What to Do with a Rough Morning

It was morning.

I knew that much, as I foggily surfaced from sleep just long enough to touch the part of my phone screen that silence the alarm. Yes, it was morning, and I could feel myself slipping back into a doze as I mentally began to form the words of prayer that have become my first instinct upon waking.

Lord, thank you for this day… I need Your help for today…Lord, I yield myself to You…

It was morning.

I surfaced again, fumbling over to shut off yet another alarm. I looked at the time and groaned inwardly.

Lord, I’ve wasted so much time. Help me to focus now, to make the best use of the time I have left.

I picked up my phone to turn off the next alarm, and suddenly fifteen minutes had passed.

It was morning.

If I have learned one thing over the years, it is that I cannot be trusted to make wise decisions before getting out of bed. Finally, I got up and dressed and hurried out to the kitchen to get the coffee going before reading my Bible, only to decide not to take time for coffee and return to my room.

By the time I finally sat down to read, I had only ten minutes left. Lord, I wanted to spend more time this morning, not less.

Already disappointed with my laziness, I focused all my attention on the passage for the morning and was soon engrossed in, of all things, a genealogy. Then my alarm went off again. It was time to leave.

I put on my boots and grabbed a hat, shoving a few last things into my bag. Flinging the curtains open, I grabbed keys, phone, and water bottle and headed for the kitchen.

I tried to make breakfast quickly, but my oatmeal overflowed the bowl in the microwave and I had trouble thinking through what kind of tea to have in place of the coffee I hadn’t made. Then there was my lunch to put together, and Mommy came in and started talking to me.

Before I knew it, we were (uncharacteristically) picking at each other over a problem that didn’t need solving at 6:30 in the morning, when I was already running late to begin with.

It was morning.

Dashing out the door and down the steps, I unlocked my car and got in. I could feel the tension and frustration wanting to build inside me as I tried not to continue the discussion in my head.

It won’t help anything. I just need to forget it and move on with my day.

Just then, I came around our traffic circle and caught a fleeting something out of the corner of my eye. By the time the bundle of black and white bustled into the range of my headlights it was too late. I jammed on my brakes, coming to a stop over the top of a terrified skunk.

It was between my wheels when I stopped, so I was pretty sure it had lived to spray another day, but the damage was done. I quickly switched the heat off to keep the smell out, and drove to work shivering, still surrounded by the inescapable odor of scared skunk.

No doubt about it,

It was morning.

I’m sure you also have stories of mornings where it seemed everything went wrong. It is a fate common to mankind, it seems, a universal phenomenon. Whether it’s a spilled coffee all over a nice outfit or important document, or a fender bender on the way to work, or a child who throws up in the car on the way somewhere important: we have all faced the trauma of a rough morning in some way.

The question is, what do we do with our rough mornings?

For the Christian, a rough morning is an opportunity to respond in faith, choosing to believe the clear promises of Scripture as well as what it says about the character of God.

To be honest, my natural tendency is to let the frustration, annoyance, and self-pity take over. I let the adverse happenings of the morning color my whole day, and I walk around with an aggrieved air, and wonder repeatedly “Why me?”

But that is not a response of faith. Faith responds to a rough morning by looking upwards, rather than inwards. It lifts the eyes of the heart to heaven, trusting that God does indeed plan to fulfill Romans 8:28, and work even this rough morning together for my good, somehow.

Faith trusts that God knows what He is doing and is able to rest in that assurance, even when there is conflict with a family member first thing in the morning, or a skunk sprays your car.

Perhaps the most commonly quoted verse on faith is Hebrews 11:1.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

This is the beginning of a 40-verse passage dealing with faith exercised through adversity in the believer’s life. Faith isn’t just belief in Christ for salvation: it is a continued choice to respond to life’s difficulties and uncertainties as if what we know about God is really true.

Adversity tends to shine a spotlight on what we really believe. It’s easy to say that the Bible is true, that God is omnipotent and in control, that He is loving and good. But if all it takes to derail our day is a spilled coffee or a frightened skunk, we are living as if there were no God. I have heard several over the years call this “practical atheism.”

What does it say to the lost world around us if we act as if God were absent in the rough mornings of our lives? Your response is of far greater importance than it may at first appear.

Another reason God may allow adversity is as an opportunity for the exercising and growing of our faith. In 1 Peter 5: 8-10, Christians facing the fiery trial of persecution are told,

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your bretheren that are in the world.

But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, and settle you.”

If God means to use the afflictions of persecution to perfect (or complete,) strengthen, stablish, and settle His people, how much more can He use the little afflictions of daily life towards the same end?

Another good passage to remember when faced with the temptation to grumble over a rough morning is 1 Corinthians 10:13, which says,

“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

Rough mornings are “common to man,” and although your particular morning may be different than mine, the temptation to self-pity—and the power to respond in faith—are the same.

So the next time you start the day with a rough morning, remember that God is still God, He still knows what He is doing, and His Spirit is still there to empower you to face the rest of the day victoriously—as you choose to respond in faith.

“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

Romans 8:38-39