A Room with a (New) View

THIS MORNING I WOKE TO THE SAD SOUND OF EARLY MORNING WHIMPERS.  AFTER ESCORTING THE LITTLE LADY BACK TO HER BED AND COVERING HER GENTLE FRAME, I FELL BACK INTO BED EXACTLY ONE MINUTE BEFORE JEFF'S ALARM WOULD SIGNAL THE START OF HIS DAY.  (MIND YOU, HIS DAY DOES NOT START UNTIL THREE SNOOZES LATER...)  KNOWING I WOULD NOT HAVE THE LUXURY OF RETURNING TO SLEEP, I LAYED WITH EYES CLOSED WAITING.   I LISTENED TO THE RESTLESS STIRRINGS OF MY MEN AS THE WEE ONE ATTEMPTED TO SETTLE HIMSELF FOR WHAT I HOPED WOULD BE TWO MORE HOURS OF SLEEP, AND AS MY HUSBAND WRESTLED WITH THE IDEA OF WAKING, LONGING FOR MORE TIME TO LINGER UNDER THE WARMTH AND PROTECTION OF THE COVERS

.  SO MANY SOUNDS TO HEAR AT 5 AM. 

AND, NOW AS I SIT AT MY WARRNESVILLE CENTER ROAD KITCHEN TABLE, THE NEW LOCATION FOR MY MORNING QUIET TIME, IT HAS OCCURRED TO ME JUST HOW DIFFERENT THE SIGHTS AND SOUNDS ARE COMPARED TO THOSE OF OUR HOME ON STARR GRASS DRIVE.  THE FIELD OF SUMMER CORN REMINDING ME DAILY OF HIS PEACE THAT PASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING IS GONE.  A SILENT STREET PROMPTING MY STILLNESS BEFORE THE LORD AS BEEN REPLACED BY ONE THAT IS FILLED WITH A CONSTANT STREAM OF EARLY MORNING TRAFFIC AS MEN AND WOMEN RACE TO WORK. THE QUIET CALM OF HOMES WITH SHADES STILL DRAWN REMINDING ME THAT I ALONE BEFORE MY GOD, HAVE BEEN REPLACED WITH THE GENTLE GLOW OF LIGHTS AS LOCAL SHOPS COME TO LIFE. 
SO MANY CHANGES TO NOTE AT 5:30 AM

AND YET, THE LORD'S PEACE CONTINUES TO REIGN.
WHILE THE STREET OUTSIDE MY WINDOW IS RACING, MY HEART IS STILL.
THE PRESENCE OF LIGHT STIRS MY MIND, ALERTING ME TO HIS OMNIPRESENCE.

THE CITY IS NEW.  THE VIEW HAS CHANGED.  BUT, HE REMAINS THE SAME.

Psalm 139: 1-10, 17-18
O Lord, you have searched me
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my
lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O Lord.
You hem me in - behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths,
you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

How precious to me are your
thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.