I love the mundane simplicity of daily life with God. Every day is in some way different even when much remains the same. Like most people, my daily routine begins with waking up. Unlike truly “morning people” this is then followed by a delay of 30-minutes or so before I actually emerge from my nocturnal cocoon (i.e. bed). However, this morning was different. As I drifted into consciousness I had a line from a worship song looping in my mind: “let the redeemed of the Lord rise up”. This wasn’t a song I’d heard recently, and the words “rise up” seemed oddly relevant to my current situation. So I got up.
After the usual preparatory steps, like a shower and breakfast, not knowing what to do with my extra half hour of the day, I opened my laptop and started work. I generally find it easier to attend meetings when I know when they are supposed to start, so my next stroke of genius was to review my work calendar for the day. Thankfully, this time there was only one item that surprised me, and it actually made me laugh out loud. Why? Because I suddenly understood my melodic early alarm call.
The mystery calendar item was a personal Zoom with a church group scheduled at 4:30pm that same day. In order to accommodate my full working hours I would normally have set my alarm clock half an hour earlier than usual, so that I could start work early, and thereby finish in time for the Zoom. On this particular occasion I had completely forgotten to do this; but God hadn’t. Knowing I would need the extra time to fit in my full work hours, the Holy Spirit got me out of bed exactly when I needed to. He really is just that kind.