Morning Ritual 2: Opening the Blinds

Lord God, Almighty and Everlasting Father,

You have brought us in safety to this new day.

Preserve us by Thy mighty power

That we may not fall into sin or be overcome by adversity.

And in all we do, lead us to the fulfilling of Your purpose.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord,

Amen.

For a decade or more, I have been daily praying this Divine Office prayer as I move the magnet on the large wall calendar that hangs next to the sink in my vanity. A picture of my immediate family is attached and I pray it for us: my husband, my children, my grandchild, for me. I pray it from memory; I pray it habitually, but certainly not without thought. Each word is guarded and meant. 

I move from the bedroom to the kitchen where I stand at the coffee maker and wait for the first cup to brew before I enter the dining room to open the blinds.

So many years ago, at the suggestion of Graham Cooke, I asked the Lord, “How do You want me to know You?” After some time, I sensed He was saying, “As good.” I picked up Bill Johnson’s book, “God is Good” and actually read and studied it with a group of women. It was also during this time that a song formed in my heart. I began using it as a welcome to the day as I opened that first blind of the morning.

I say to this day, “You are blessed.”

And I declare I serve a mighty God,

Who today will do exceedingly abundantly more than I can ask or think.

I say You are a good, good God,

And I eagerly anticipate Your goodness today.

Sometimes it is still very dark outside and at other times I can see the beginning of light coming from the Eastern sky. Whichever, it is necessary and right to start the day with God’s goodness in mind.

I really can’t remember when I began singing this, but I do recall the November morning in 2017 when I sang it to my 9th grade nephew Levi on the way to school. He was not impressed, and told his mother later that day that not only had I sung to him … but it didn’t even rhyme. Oh, how I love that boy and treasure those times of taking him to school. He didn’t let me get away with anything. He always had an answer. And it was most often very thought provoking and startling.

It was only a few weeks later that I sat at the end of my brother’s bed holding his right foot just an hour or so before those feet would walk him into his eternal home. It was then that I sang that song to Levi again and to all who had gathered, declaring that we serve a good God who does so much more than we can ask or think. Even in the hard, questionable places. 

I have had a lot of loss in my life since that day of singing to Levi in the car and at my brother’s feet. So much heartbreak. Even now life is not always easy. But this morning, as most every morning, I opened that blind … and sang.

Just an ordinary moment.