Sounds of the Morning

It was so refreshing to wake up to a 70 degree morning instead of the 80 and 90 degree mornings we've been having. I was able to sit outside for a little while enjoying my favorite time of the day: the time when everybody and everything is coming to life again. The steady stream of traffic from the freeway, the teenage girls next door giggling after a slumber party, birds searching for worms and screeching when they find one, planes overhead bringing visitors to L.A., all evidences of a brand new day. I've just finished The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom, and I am now more aware than ever of what a blessing these signs of life are. In the occupied Holland where she lived during much of the first world war, Corrie had few signs of life in her neighborhood. Travel was not permitted, a curfew was strongly enforced, there was little joy or pleasure to be had anywhere. Social visits were minimal, parks and open spaces were non-existent, and no birdsongs could be enjoyed, as a bird's meat was too valuable as a food in a starving nation to let them fly free. That is the horrific state of North Korea now, which so amplifies the smallest of enjoyments we all have in our daily lives. Make the most of all you have today, thanking God for all of it, knowing that "His mercies are new every day." (Lamentations 3:23.)