Glorious Mornings

An email from a friend, wishing me a glorious morning, prompted this blog. It is pretty easy to recognize glorious mornings at the beach. It is true that the past couple days  I have walked in triple layers and a sock hat, but, even so, they have been glorious mornings. It is such a gift to watch the sun peek up over the horizon.  Even the day that it was just the pelicans and me on a gray, drizzly beach with no hint of the sunrise, it was glorious. I have stopped at a favorite restaurant during my walks for pots of hot tea to warm up.  Glorious hot tea in a comfortable environment.  Today, I saw a bird eating a fish in a tree. You don't see that every day. People sometimes ask why we come to Florida in January; "won't it be cold," they inquire.  It might be cold, which is relative because I figure those at home in single digit temps would consider 45 degrees a heat wave, but the cold does not obscure the glory.

I would not like to think that the only glorious mornings I have are the twenty-one I enjoy here on Sanibel Island, and they are not. I want to recognize that every morning I wake up there is something glorious to appreciate. No matter how mundane and ordinary a day is, there is glory to be witnessed. Many mornings, I ride to school with MP, Simeon, and Violet. There is glory in the faces of my grandchildren and daughter; in time spent with them. Recently, I have been very fortunate to have at least one morning a month to spend with Marshall. There, I find glory. The mornings that Max bounds in my back door, grinning from ear to ear....ah, glory. It is all around us. Sometimes it is hard to see in the midst of family strife, financial strains, health issues, the absurdity of the political environment, the overwhelming need in every corner of the world, and countless other distractions that draw our focus from the glory that is there to be seen and enjoyed. I pray for eyes to see the glory that surrounds me.