Years ago I heard a friend say that every morning he got up he would look outside his bedroom window and say, "Good Lord it is morning". I have to believe that is a little disrespectful but after some traumatic events in his life he decided he needed to take another road in life. He started each day when waking up to look outside and say, "Good morning Lord". Another way to look at this is the old saying, "is your cup half full or is it half empty?".
I may be a little strange and I know for a fact that I had a tendency when I was a kid to get up in the morning and be pretty happy and lively. In fact after I got married my wife suggested many times that when I wake up in the morning it would be nice that I not be so loud, energetic, and plain old excited about my day. She claimed it was biblical and that folks generally like to wake up slowly and then speed up. Well in my book that dog does not hunt.
I like to get up in the morning and in fact if I get in a solid 6 hours before noon doing what is on my mind and agenda then I feel pretty good about my day. You see at that time it is lunch (I should remind you that when I grew up in the Osage Lunch was Dinner and Dinner was Supper) and the way I look at it is now we are at half time. If you still are not getting it, my GLASS IS HALF FULL. I remember the first time I heard the phrase half full vs. half empty and I frankly just did not get it. I thought that if it were just half full it was still good news in that I had something to drink.
Well here I am at age 61 and I am just as excited about today and tomorrow as I have always been. In fact last week I was asking Shouna, my wife, if she thought we should slow down our schedule or start saying no to some of the requests that come our way requiring some of our time. To my surprise and a pleasant one at that I have to say she looked at me and said, "No and why would we?". The way we look at it is if we are having a good time and doing what we think God wants us to do we might as well keep rowing our boat in the same direction. Man do I have a great wife or what!
Now don't get me wrong, not everything is perfect at home or elsewhere but I like my odds and I thoroughly like where we are headed. If you think I am prideful or naive you have not read my blog a few weeks ago about some of my failures. OK, OK!
What wakes me up in the morning? Since I get up before daylight it is not the sun but it is the Son and the fact that I count my blessings not my failures. My days are the same as when I was in dear old Shidler High School. Back then the only time I had regret was when I missed getting in on every play in a game or missed getting an A on every paper. I was never satisfied with sitting on the bench even when I was on the bench. I was never happy when Old lady Head gave me a B or Happy Butt (Gladys Snyder, if you don't get it send me an email and I will explain the relationship of Glad-ys and happy butt) gave a test and I made a B. I was never happy when Coach Cotham or Gilbreath sat me out for a single play even if it were special teams. Coach Smith drove me crazy and not just in drivers education class when he would put in better players like Julian Codding or anyone else and make me sit down. Once we were playing Ralston and I got fouled out and I was so mad sitting on the bench. In summary what wakes me up in the morning is I have things to do and being second or sitting on the bench are not in my list of to do's. I want to get my projects done. Yes I put too many things on my list but I want to be busy. Life is good and I want every minute to count. I don't want to look back and say, "I wish or I could of ... or I would of....".
Just a side note. Mrs. Head and Gladys Snyder were two of the best and greatest teachers I ever had. So when I make those comments it is with great love and respect to two of the greatest ladies ever.
Well, thanks for listening.
What do you learn in the Osage?
gary@thepioneerman.com
I may be a little strange and I know for a fact that I had a tendency when I was a kid to get up in the morning and be pretty happy and lively. In fact after I got married my wife suggested many times that when I wake up in the morning it would be nice that I not be so loud, energetic, and plain old excited about my day. She claimed it was biblical and that folks generally like to wake up slowly and then speed up. Well in my book that dog does not hunt.
I like to get up in the morning and in fact if I get in a solid 6 hours before noon doing what is on my mind and agenda then I feel pretty good about my day. You see at that time it is lunch (I should remind you that when I grew up in the Osage Lunch was Dinner and Dinner was Supper) and the way I look at it is now we are at half time. If you still are not getting it, my GLASS IS HALF FULL. I remember the first time I heard the phrase half full vs. half empty and I frankly just did not get it. I thought that if it were just half full it was still good news in that I had something to drink.
Well here I am at age 61 and I am just as excited about today and tomorrow as I have always been. In fact last week I was asking Shouna, my wife, if she thought we should slow down our schedule or start saying no to some of the requests that come our way requiring some of our time. To my surprise and a pleasant one at that I have to say she looked at me and said, "No and why would we?". The way we look at it is if we are having a good time and doing what we think God wants us to do we might as well keep rowing our boat in the same direction. Man do I have a great wife or what!
Now don't get me wrong, not everything is perfect at home or elsewhere but I like my odds and I thoroughly like where we are headed. If you think I am prideful or naive you have not read my blog a few weeks ago about some of my failures. OK, OK!
What wakes me up in the morning? Since I get up before daylight it is not the sun but it is the Son and the fact that I count my blessings not my failures. My days are the same as when I was in dear old Shidler High School. Back then the only time I had regret was when I missed getting in on every play in a game or missed getting an A on every paper. I was never satisfied with sitting on the bench even when I was on the bench. I was never happy when Old lady Head gave me a B or Happy Butt (Gladys Snyder, if you don't get it send me an email and I will explain the relationship of Glad-ys and happy butt) gave a test and I made a B. I was never happy when Coach Cotham or Gilbreath sat me out for a single play even if it were special teams. Coach Smith drove me crazy and not just in drivers education class when he would put in better players like Julian Codding or anyone else and make me sit down. Once we were playing Ralston and I got fouled out and I was so mad sitting on the bench. In summary what wakes me up in the morning is I have things to do and being second or sitting on the bench are not in my list of to do's. I want to get my projects done. Yes I put too many things on my list but I want to be busy. Life is good and I want every minute to count. I don't want to look back and say, "I wish or I could of ... or I would of....".
Just a side note. Mrs. Head and Gladys Snyder were two of the best and greatest teachers I ever had. So when I make those comments it is with great love and respect to two of the greatest ladies ever.
Well, thanks for listening.
What do you learn in the Osage?
- God is awake in the morning before I am
- If I talk to Him, He will talk to me
- The best of days were back then, yesterday, today and tomorrow
- GOOD MORNING LORD
gary@thepioneerman.com
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