Magical Unicorn Morning

My husband is gone for three days on a business trip.  Usually he does mornings with our toddler.  I'm not a morning person--I would prefer to stay in bed lounging or sleeping till about 10, get up, then have a leisurely breakfast.  As it is, he gets up with her about 7:15, and then I get to sleep or snooze till 8:00 when he has to get ready for work.   I like staying up late, extroverting by hosting movie nights or game nights at the house, or just sitting with a drink and chatting to whomever.  When he's away I keep my nights pretty busy.  Last night was no different.

 I had a movie night and watched Malificent.  It wasn't bad--not as good as I'd hoped though.  The chat afterwards was more fun.  We all sat around and talked about how differently Americans and Brits manoeuvre boss/minion tasks, different actors we like, upcoming holidays, etc.  It was lovely.  But then I looked at my clock and realized it was past 11 pm and I had to get up when the toddler does in the morning.  Ugh.  I usually get her up about 10 pm for a potty break, but since I was busy it was 11-ish by the time it happened.

This morning I saw light sliding into my room and knew it was a special day.  "Light" doesn't really happen till closer to 8 am in the winter here.  I heard Fi stirring in her room, and waited for the crying/"MOMMY!"  It didn't come.  Instead I heard her talking and playing with her stuffed animals.  I lounged for 30 minutes before she called me.  8:30.  It was awesome.  Plus I had the whole bed to myself last night (I love my husband, but I love having the bed to myself too).  Talk about rested!

I went in to get her milk, then picked her up and brought her in bed with me while we quietly snuggled and contemplated the morning--key word "quietly."  I was enthused.  I decided to attempt a "big" breakfast for a weekday.  We trundled into the kitchen, and I turned on a some fun music.  We danced happily around while I made scrambled eggs, cheese grits, and used the last of the wheaten bread for toast.  We ate it all up.  She helped feed the dogs, put away her dishes (all the plastic ones), and clean up the kitchen.  I made coffee.

Now we are retiring in the "other room" or living room.  She is coloring, and I'm writing!  It is a Magical Unicorn Morning.

Heroes of Our Reality

We all know them.  We see them every day--they are family, friends, that guy around the corner, or the one we went to school with.  Maybe we are them.  Those people that have been put through the ringer by life, and were all expected to be shredded bits of a person, never amounting to much, because of the hand they were dealt.  But they exceeded everyone expectations--they persevered, they grew lovelier, more loving, by the year.  They are artists--in and of themselves or by the work they produce.  And we marvel, that those who had no means to "be something" became more.

And yet, our society says that's not possible.  That we are only products of the things we have been born into, subjected to.  So how do these people exist?  Well, evolution.  Godly evolution.  God created each of us to be God-centered beings--to seek him, to seek something greater than ourselves.  He created us to be able to overcome, to grow, evolve, change, and sink into the strength that we were not given, but are able to receive from Him.

I was reading this morning about the story of Joseph in the Bible.  He was not set up to be somebody that would succeed.  His mom died when he was young, his dad favored him above all the rest of his brothers, and they hated him for it.  His brothers literally sold him into slavory.  Enslaved he did hard, honest work--but a lonely wife fancied him, and when he didn't return those affections, she told her husband he attacked her, and he was put in prison.  His story goes on, and eventually he gets out of prison and becomes a great man in Egypt--his brothers end up having to beg him for food, and they are rightly afraid because of what they did to him.  And yet he says, "Am I in the place of God?  You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good...don't be afraid" (Gen. 50:19-21).

God actually allows us to be greater than we can be.  He loves us so deeply that he gives us the strength to achieve an outpouring of love when no earthly love has been given to us.  What an amazing gift.  We get to be the heroes of reality--to "bear up" when we are expected to fail, and point up and say, "It's all Him, to God be the glory."  That's all He wants.