more than watchmen for the morning

Morning Prayer

Here is a little tip, 

your daily dose of unsolicited advice. 

I find it’s worth trying this if you can squeeze yourself from sleep. 

Wake up in the morning just after a good night of rest, 

not one of those where you’re running on fumes. 

Pull back the shades of your eyes just before those first few sunbeams come tracing through your blinds, etching a new design on the sky. 

Lay safely there in the arms of your duvet and 

set aside a good half an hour; I found 38 minutes to be the perfect portion, 

and consider, as I did this morning, 

the terrifying and freeing fact that we have no idea what this day will be or what 

our week will bring. 

I didn’t plan to spend half my day on the phone with customer service.  

But what was is and what will be is on her way.  

In the morning I’m not encumbered with phone calls. 

In that still unknowing I would ask God, or the universe (if that’s your thing), 

or maybe your dear old deceased Aunt Marge 

to show you who you are- what your name is- who you’re marked out to 

be in that sunbeam that’s come drifting through your curtains. 

Ask to find out what you’re made of and if there’s more than just carbon,

but a will that transcends desire

and rises on the spirit of something holy. 

Maybe it’ll stay quiet. 

Maybe you’ll get a response. 

You’ll never know until you ask. 

And maybe the answer will bear her way out down the sidewalk 

as you move from work to the gym to the corner shop to buy

a zucchini, an egg plant, some mushrooms. 

Maybe. By this time your 38 minutes of warm sanctuary will have expired, 

and that’s okay. Rise up and feel the carpet on your bare feet and 

wander-wonder- out into that sun pulling herself across the eastern sky, a little 

crack of gold and honey that fills your room 

and shows you the steam floating off your cup of coffee.