Dawn

Rich says we are infected with an old man’s disease.  It is not curable.  It only gets worse.  The disease is unlike any other.  Simply put, we get up with the dawn, or earlier.  No matter how tired, we wake up early.  No matter how many time zones are plaguing my soul, my body says it is time to get up.  It is a sickness unlike any other.  There is no known treatment.
 
It was not always like this.  The longest I can remember sleeping was 7 p.m.  Even then, I woke up, at a bit of breakfast, and went back to bed.  Obviously, I was tired.  As long as I can remember, sleeping in was a luxury I seriously enjoyed!  I recall extended hours of rest.  I see blissful days lost to total relaxation and peaceful zzz’s.  The first sign of morning was the warmth of the sun’s rays as it was closer to noon than any other time.  It was pure luxury!
 
What was is a long faded memory.  I find myself enjoying the anticipation of the moments just before dawn’s birth.  There is something incredibly peaceful in the darkest moments just before sunrise.  Even in Singapore, nothing seems to move.  In England, there is an extraordinary stillness.  Redlands has is reluctant stirrings, yet peace dominates. 
 
The one benefit of having old man’s disease is the opportunity to consider life.  In the flickers of the warning light on top of the crane for the new art school, I catch of glimpse of God’s whispers.  In the crisp silhouettes of the ever-changing skyline, I find echoes of stories old and new.  It is good to consider.  We need to reflect.  Some things change.  Yet there are precious elements of life that are forever new.  God is everlasting.
 
“Look up at the skies, ponder the earth under your feet.  The skies will fade out like smoke, the earth will wear out like work pants, and the people will die off like flies.  But my salvation will last forever, my setting-things-right will never be obsolete.”  (Isaiah 51.6)