Every single time we wake up to experience the beauty of a new day, we should see it as something worth appreciating. Fulton J. Sheen once said, “There are two ways of waking up in the morning. One is to say, ‘Good morning, God,’ and the other is to say, ‘Good God, morning!’” Sheen pretty much summed up my thoughts on waking up in the morning and considering the semester starting up again; most of you reading this should relate well! But, how common is this?! Saying, “Good morning, God with a hint of appreciation followed by either a sarcastic, ‘Oh God… It’s morning already?!’ or perhaps, the uncommon, ‘Oh God! MORNING! YES!!!!! (If you are a morning person, please give the rest of us some tips!)” I was always told that winning the morning meant winning the day. However, the concept of winning the morning was pretty foreign to me! I tried working out in the morning, which left me exhausted the rest of the day; I tried eating breakfast, but that was constantly interrupted by the dreaded morning rush of a commuting college student, thus leaving me incapable of focusing on the morning, let a lone appreciating the morning.
Interesting enough, many Sundays ago, the head pastor at my local parish shared his specific struggles in his homily, and I must say… he gave a beautifully humane homily on the crosses that we are all called to carry. He proceeded to quote Eric Clapton… I know pretty awesome, any Clapton fans? For the sake of the awesomeness of the quote.. I want to share this rather lengthy passage from Clapton’s autobiography.
“I was in complete despair,’ Clapton wrote. ‘In the privacy of my room, I begged for help. I had no notion who I thought I was talking to, I just knew that I had come to the end of my tether … and, getting down on my knees, I surrendered. Within a few days I realized that … I had found a place to turn to, a place I’d always known was there but never really wanted, or needed, to believe in. From that day until this, I have never failed to pray in the morning, on my knees, asking for help, and at night, to express gratitude for my life and, most of all, for my sobriety. I choose to kneel because I feel I need to humble myself when I pray, and with my ego, this is the most I can do. If you are asking why I do all this, I will tell you … because it works, as simple as that.”
Clapton beautifully saw what he needed as a human being, and what he needed was just a relationship with God through a simple morning prayer. Winning the day… seems to be impossible, but with our God and His mercy, victory is assured. Praying in the morning asking for God to be our shield and thanking him at night. It’s an extremely difficult task though! I’m ashamed to say that I find it difficult to pray, for my own personal reasons, but the fact that God has granted me a new morning, it’s never too late!
As we are tasked to wake up for either work, school, or that New Year’s resolution to hit up the gym every morning, let’s remember one simple yet extraordinary fact: God has given us the gift of an new day, and to give thanks through prayer is the least we can do for such an amazing chance at a better life.
(This was an excerpt from a longer post on my own personal blog. Link to full entry, http://clorigenes.wordpress.com/2013/10/17/1-in-10/)
