Choice Is a Lovely Thing

I was able to get out and run a bit this morning.  I am still not ready for a 5K, but I feel great about my 2 miles!  As I was jogging along, I was trying to figure out why this was my absolute favorite time of the day.  The half- moon was so bright.  My google search tells me it is called a third quarter moon, yet it was beckoning me to remember that while half of it was hidden from my view, I could still know its fullness.  That made me think about the half of me that I show to others when the other side is dark, left in the shadows and hidden out of sight from all but the One who really sees.  (That sounds like a topic for another day!)

Venus was sparkling like a huge diamond as if it were shouting, “look at me!”  Who could miss her beauty, even with the naked eye?

But what is so spectacular about this time of day is that although it was yet more than a half-hour from the actual time of sunrise, the Eastern sky was definitely breaking daylight.  As I pondered why I simply love this time of day – half night, half morning, I realized (or actually the Holy Spirit revealed to me so perfectly, it made me laugh out loud – even while jogging!) that it was all about choice.

I like having choice.  I don’t like being forced into something with limitations.  So I could call it morning because truly the sun was coming up and the dawning was evident.  My last leg of my jaunt is a run toward the East.  My house faces the East, and from that perspective, it seemed for sure with no question to be daylight.

Yet behind me, the sky held the moon, the stars and beautiful Venus sparkling the songs of the night.  So it is my choice.  I can call it day, or I can call it still night and I am right either way.  I love this brief opportunity to decide for myself what it is.  And if those still asleep in their beds are enjoying their weekend morning to sleep a bit longer, the night sky continues its lullaby for them.  Or those of us that enjoy a morning jog (although in my neighborhood, that is no one but me!), could know a new day is dawning.

Choice.  It is a lovely thing.  I am so invigorated by this brief magical time where it is half night and half day and the opportunity to be grateful for the time that has gone before and also be ready to beckon the start of a new day.  A lovely, lovely thing!