Take this morning, for instance. My boys asked me to drive them to church
for "Beach and Bible" day. We needed to leave the house at 9:00 a.m. I
didn't want to leave the house until it was all clean, the vacuuming
done, the bathroom clean, the wash completed, the patio swept, the trash
taken out, and the animal pens cleaned out.
As usual, I got up with my eyes half closed thinking, "How will I ever do
all that I have to do today?" Then I got down on my knees. Oh, there is
no better place to start your day than there. For I do not have the
strength, nor the wisdom, to manage my mornings, much less my entire day.
But the LORD has more than enough of both. So to Him I go. And I go to
Him early before dawn. Why? Because the LORD said this is wise.
Especially for the virtuous wife.
"She rises before dawn and provides food for her household and a portion
for her maidservants." Proverbs 31:15
"Do not love sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes, and you
will be satisfied with bread." Proverbs 20:13
I love sitting at our LORD's feet in the quiet hour of the predawn
morning. It is so hushed in the house. I am so thankful that the LORD has
helped me to practice seeking Him early in the day. For this is indeed
the way I gird myself with strength before beginning my work.
"She girds herself with strength, and strengthens her arms." Proverbs
31:17
"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD,
the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His
understanding is unsearchable. he gives power to the weak, and to those
who have no might He increases strength."
"Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall
utterly fall, but those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be
weary, they shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:28-31
And that is the secret to my strength, dear Sisters, I wait on the LORD.
I sit with Him every morning and drink in what He has to teach me waiting
and listening attentively. I learn so much from His Word and love talking
to Him. Then I "wait" on the LORD all day long as His maidservant,
thanking Him and worshiping Him as I work. Oh, I can't tell you the
change in my life since I began to "wait" on the LORD each and every
day.
"Then she arose, bowed her face to the earth, and said, "Here is your
maidservant, a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord." 1
Samuel 25:41
"Behold the maidservant of the LORD! Let it be to me according to Your
Word."
Luke 1:38
Morning after morning I get up before dawn. I bow my face to the earth
and offer myself to His trusting Hand. I sit at His Feet and soak up His
Word. There is nothing like knowing My Master and learning what pleases
Him. I thank Him, praise Him, and seek Him for myself and my family. Then
I began my day as His maidservant. He is The Wonderful Master who
empowers His servants beyond their normal capabilities to do His will. So
again we practiced together this morning what He has been diligently
teaching me over the years.
Before my children got up, I saw my husband off to work after a nice
chat. Then I tidied up the kitchen wiping down the counters and the
stove. I put a load of laundry on. I tidied up the living room. I swept
the patio. I made our bed and tidied up our bedroom. I swept the hallway
and the kitchen. I gathered all the dirty clothes from my children's
rooms and started another load of laundry while putting the clean load
into the dryer. I didn't have to make bread today as I had made two
loaves the previous day, so I set that out for the kids on the kitchen
table for breakfast along with some bananas and my neighbor's homemade
strawberry jam. I went and woke them up at 6:30 a.m.
I wrote down all the things that I had noticed needed to be done on my
children's chore lists. When they woke up, they each had their chore list
ready on my kitchen desk after making their beds.
Quincy (16) planted two grape bushes, washed the top shelf of the
refrigerator, mopped the hallway with hot water and rosemary oil, and
watered two new trees he planted recently. Then he went to work out with
his weights.
Brady (13) fed the goats, chickens, turkeys, ducks, and the dogs. Then he
cleaned their pens. Later I heard him practicing his guitar.
Abbie (10) chopped one onion and 3 garlic cloves, cleaned the second
shelf of the refrigerator, mopped the kitchen with hot water and rosemary
oil, and grated some mozzarella cheese for dinner.
Gabe ( 7) watered the rose bush and the jasmine bush by the arbor,
watered some bushes my son planted for me, watered some new plants by our
walkway, and took out the trash.
Meanwhile, I continued working, too. I vacuumed every room, watered my
garden, did the dishes, finished three loads of laundry, scrubbed two
sinks, windexed the mirrors in the bathroom and my daughter's room,
cleaned the toilet, finished cleaning the bottom of the fridge, dusted a
few areas, and then went to tidy myself up.
By 9:00 we were out the door and our house was clean. Dinner was made
since we have so many leftovers from Father's Day. I didn't mind at all
taking my boys to church because we had all worked together and got many
needed things done.
I went to the grocery store nearby the church then came home. I put away
my groceries and made a rice pudding. It felt so good to come home to a
clean house with so much work behind me. It was also starting to get hot,
so I was grateful I had worked hard in the coolness of the morning. I
knew that if I was tired today I could take a peaceful nap in the
afternoon knowing that the bulk of my work was behind me.
"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not
depart from it."
Proverbs 22:6
I am the LORD's child. He has been diligently training me for many years
now. The training has not always been easy, but so very, very profitable.
My mornings are getting better and better. What used to be so hard for me
is now becoming easier and easier with more and more practice. Yes, the
discipline was not easy at first, as the Word of God conveys. But later
on it has produced profitable fruit, as the Word of God also conveys.
Likewise for my children. They have not always found my training easy,
but the more we practice together, the more profit I see for them and for
our home. Also the more honor and respect I see shown for their dad as
they serve him with my daily direction.
I am my Master's Morning Maidservant. It has been incredible to see Him
work in someone as weak as me. This summer I look forward to practicing
good things in my afternoons and early evenings. As always, I look to His
Hand. He can do above all that I ask or even think. I have seen it time
and time again in my own life and in my own home. I never thought it
could be so for me. But then, I never knew just how awesome my Father was
and how much I could learn from His Blessed Word. I am learning to
practice what He teaches me. We started years ago in the morning, which
is the foundation of every day. But we're not going to stop there. Oh,
there's more to come! I look forward to it all.
The LORD is training up His Child, and I can't stop thanking Him for it
all.
Love,
Laine