Morning Discontent

I’m not a morning person. It’s not that I’m snooze-happy. I don’t lie under my covers cursing the clock, repeating the 9-minute snooze cycle four times before rolling angrily out of bed. I don’t always even set an alarm. I wake up, I get up, and I get going. But I’m not happy about it. I don’t carry the enthusiasm of Annie Warbocks at 7:30 in the morning. I don’t whistle a vibrant tune or carry on bubbly conversations. I just repeat the routine - in the same order every day.

I shower, I blow-dry, I dress, I deodorize – and I drag. I dread the monotony of the day ahead, and I dream about life without it. You see, I’d instantly morph into a morning person if I knew I could do whatever I wanted with my day. The freedom of not having to be at a certain place at a certain time for a certain purpose would wake me with much more vigor. But “more of the same” sounds kind of plain-Jane to me.

Could it be that I’m just in a pessimistic mood? Or could it be more serious than that, more spiritual even?

I started out this post with the intention of revealing a humorous tidbit about myself, assuming some readers would laugh, others would relate, and all would think nothing of it as they walked away. But suddenly it’s not so funny anymore.

There is a spiritual problem hidden underneath. My dissatisfaction with routine could be dangerous, for it is this kind of discontent that breeds disobedience, that causes the righteous to wander into the risky, the worldly, and the empty all because they want something “new.”

Think of the Israelites and their groanings about manna. God was pointing them to freedom. They were out of the hands of their captors, traveling toward fullness of life, and they complained. Because it wasn’t exciting enough. Because it wasn’t quick enough. Because it wasn’t easy.

“Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord… The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, ‘If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!’" (from Numbers 11:1-6)

They didn’t like the routine provision. And their discontent led to disobedience, disbelief, and everything that displeases God. They lost out because they lost hope. They didn’t hold on. They didn’t believe. They didn’t obey. And in the end, they didn’t enter His rest.

In Hebrews 3 and 4, God warns us about following their example. “Therefore, since the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard it did not combine it with faith.” (Hebrews 4:1-2)

Is the gospel of value to me? Have I combined it with faith? Will I receive God’s provision until that Day with a grateful and worshipful heart?

I may never be a morning person, but I can be a “manna person” - one who knows true rest, one who finds great joy in “old,” repeated things, one who discovers newness and fullness of life in their presence, and one who awakes in a bed of His faithfulness.

I think that makes mornings just a little bit better.