The Gift of a New Day

Last week was “one of those” kind of weeks at our house. On Sunday Josh started running a fever. Monday night I came home feeling sick. On Tuesday, Josh seemed better so went back to school, but that evening after dinner began running a fever again. Later that night, Jeff came in from a meeting sick, Wednesday Josh and Jeff were both sick with me trailing close behind (well enough to help them, but still not up to par), Thursday was more of the same with Friday being a bit better as Josh was able to go back to school and I went on to work. Jeff finally made it back to the “land of the living” sometime Friday afternoon.

Abby was the only one in the family that remained healthy (lucky girl! And, YES, she was quite the trooper in dealing with all of us being sick!). As I’m sure many of you know, though, when the healthiest person in the house is just 5 yrs old, it can be a bit challenging! :)

I, unfortunately, do not fare well when I’ve had little sleep and it just gets worse when I am also sick. So, by the time Josh came down to our room about 2:00am Thursday morning needing some snuggle time ‘cause that ‘ole fever wasn’t letting him sleep much, my weary body was about done in. Of course, I didn’t let it stop me from jumping up (okay, maybe more like rolled out of bed SLOWLY) and snuggling up with him first on the sofa and then back in his own bed until he fell asleep.

However, once he had fallen back asleep and seemed more comfortable and then I discovered that I couldn’t get back to sleep, I started to feel myself giving in to the sick and weary feelings. I wasn’t sure I could get up the next morning and do it all over again…. get Abby moving and on to preschool (I figured she would have more fun if she kept with her normal routine instead of hanging out with all us sick people), take care of both Josh and Jeff, keep a few of the most important household type things going, and also try to rest myself.

Of course, being so tired and not feeling well, it felt so much worse than what it really was, but those were my feelings at that particular point in time.

Morning did come and I did get make it thru Thursday and on to Friday. And, by the end of the day on Friday, Jeff was feeling well enough to pitch in and help so I could get more rest. (On Saturday, he also took both kids on a scout camp trip so I could have the house to myself to rest and re-coup... pretty neat guy, isn't he? :) )

As I went about my day on Thursday it struck me how much better I felt than I had in the early morning hours. Yes, I was still tired and, yes, I was still not feeling well. However, gone were the feelings of “How can I keep on moving?” and “How can I take care of all of us on my own?”, etc.

It was alot like the days when both my kids were babies and I’d be up with them all night… nights feeling so very tired and knowing that I had to get up the next morning and keep going on regardless. The time after I had gotten them back into bed and they were sleeping was always the hardest. Many times I was unable to easily go back to sleep and I would lie in bed feeling so tired and knowing that life was just going to keep on moving… regardless of how tired I was, I had to find a way to get up the next morning, take care of those sweet little babies, plus the many others things that I do in the course of a day. No matter how awful it seemed in those early morning hours, it was always MUCH better once I got up and got moving the next morning with the sun shining and the world alive around me.




It reminds me of how God takes our lives and turns them from lives of darkness to a life that is filled with light. He takes our fears and our frustrations and turns them into incredible and joyful journeys. He takes our darknesses and turns them to light. Every new morning we experience is a true gift from God… the gift of another day with our loved ones, the gift of a new day with a new perspective, the gift of a new day to be lived for HIM.


God's faithfulness in on display every single day. Every new morning is a gift from God, and a sign of His eternal presence. Lamentations 3:22-23



How about you? Have you experienced similar situations where you found the dawn of a new day brought about a new attitude and/or perspective for you? Do you see how God works in your life to make the darkness become bright again?