A Rude Awakening!!!

Were you aware that 5 o’clock happens TWICE a day? I was totally clueless… ok – so not completely! I have, however, had a recent reintroduction to this hour that was well – shocking to say the least!!!

 “MOM!!!! COME QUICK!!!!!!” Yes – that’s the sound that roused me at 5AM – I thought that perhaps my son had a bloody nose as he often does during peak allergy seasons. And if not that, perhaps Jbird’s feeling sick – really, really sick! And if not ill, perhaps he’s had a nightmare, the really terrifying kind… no, it was none of these things. It was something MUCH more surprising – MUCH more unexpected – a never-in-a-million-years-would-I-have-guessed-it kind of thing! It was a frog – on his bedpost – looking at us wondering what we were doing in his forest! Am I for real – of yes – I most assuredly am!

 It was one of those moments that you wish you had only thought to grab the camera before disposing of the problem… but as it was, catch and release was the only thing on my mind after I stopped laughing – and when I say laughing – it was the kind of laughing you expect that the old lady who swallowed the fly did – “she swallowed a bird – how absurd!” I wonder what the lyrics would have been if she had swallowed a frog – “it felt like a log to swallow a frog”? I digress…

 But this is how I awoke… It took about fifteen minutes to settle my boy back down – I can only imagine the fun dreams he had after that one!! And of course, going back to his bed was not really an option just yet… so that meant dear ol’ mom was up for the day… what could I possibly do for the next hour and a half whilst waiting to be able to make racket?!!

I made Ramen noodles for Zebra’s lunch. I read several internet articles. I prayed. I wiped the kitchen counters… and then I sat down, cup of coffee in hand. I sat down in a spot that I am confident will be my spot in this new-to-us house… and I prayed some more… I prayed for my Jbird, that as he grows that he would have confidence & be strong in mind, body and spirit. I prayed for my husband, to have certainty in the plans being laid. I prayed for my Zebra who is seemingly as resilient as the day is long, that she would keep that happy spirit and always know joy. And I prayed for myself to – to feel at home.

It’s funny how God uses strange things to get our attention. It’s funny too that we don’t always get it the first go round, or the second, or even the third… and if you’re as stubborn as I am you still don’t get it the fourth or the fifth time either!! I’ve been struggling with keeping my quiet time lately – not feeling settled into a routine, and not feeling at home in this house – not feeling at home in my skin, truth be told… and this bothers me! Oddly enough – as bothered as I have been it hasn’t prompted me to be any more intentional in keeping the one meeting I know will help with this… that meeting being my time alone, in the still quiet with Jesus.

 

I’m sooooo not a morning person, so I justify not getting up early saying that God made me the way He did and so He must know that I’m more a meet-you-in-the-watch-of-the-night kind of girl… but then when 9PM comes, I put the kids to bed and click on HGTV until I pass out… I vow, if only I could sleep well at night then I wouldn’t have a problem getting up in the morning… but the alarm goes off, my back aches, my sinuses protest and I hit snooze, getting up with just enough time to get the kids out the door for school with breakfast in their bellies and, on a good day, a smile on their faces… the cycle continues… tomorrow… tomorrow… tomorrow… and much like the 80s Larnelle Harris song, “tomorrow might very well be to late…”

So today, God sends a frog – at 5AM!!!  I’m thinking I’d better have my heart turned by this “plague of frog” because when I read Exodus, and see gnats, flies, livestock, boils…. I think yeah – I think I’ve learned my lesson – I’ll not keep Your child from worshipping You, Lord, any longer… Whether my back cracks, my sinuses scream, my alarm annoys… 5AM – ready or not – here I come!

 “¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. ² If you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs on your whole country. ³ The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs. ⁴ The frogs will come up on you and your people and all your officials.’” Exodus 8:1-4, NIV

 

And the best part is – the days will only get better from here!

 

Oh - and FYI - our friend looked something like this....