My Christmas Eve Wake Up Call

This morning I woke feeling compelled to get up and get going, spurred by thoughts of all I thought I still had to do for the holiday now upon us. The gnat cloud of gotta-do's had already found me last night, causing a fuss festival that left an after effect like morning breath. I was up before my husband, so I took my tea into the den to sip and slowly wake myself and shake off my funk.

The den faces east, towards the coming day. This was waiting for me.

This beautiful sunrise is another of the reasons to move to this spot in the country. The place we left was in a ridge and valley system that didn't allow such happenings, so I haven't seen a sunrise like this one in at least the last six years. Here, just one county away (and that's not far in a state with 125 of them), the land opens up into gently rolling hills that allow fabulous vistas, one of the intangible benefits of life where we want to be. My heart seems to expand with the horizon. It always has here, long before I met my husband and formed ties to this area.

I spent my tea time watching the changing sky and deliberately thinking of things in my life for which I am grateful, a much better way to start the day than thinking raggedly of the future and its demands. Of course, it turned out that I didn't have nearly as much to do as I thought. It usually does.

This Christmas Eve present is another reminder that the important so, so often gets lost in the urgent. I get lost in it, too. For a few minutes this morning, I was found. A glorious sunrise was evidence that the best gift ever--peace--is available every day if we stop to claim it.