An Early Morning Walk

Early mornings are the most peaceful time in our neighborhood.  It’s that magical hour when the sky is light, but the sun has not fully risen. The cool, crisp air echoes with birdsong – it’s energizing.  

The road is mostly clear of school buses, goods carriers, gravel trucks, tuk-tuks, motorbikes and other conveyances that normally raise clouds of dust.

Cows are on the move, they seem to know where they are going, while I dodge the ‘offerings’ they leave in their path.

Hindu worshippers search for flowers to gather for their morning worship. Street dogs sleep curled up on piles of gravel.  

My route takes me down Military Road,  the only smoothly paved road nearby. At the end of the road a block wall with heavy gates and ‘Keep Out’ signs are a reminder that India’s army is always on alert.

The neighborhood is stirring.  I pass a few other walkers, see porches and entrances being swept, watch laborers offload a delivery of bricks (by hand), and greet house servants as they cycle to work in their bright-colored sarees, their long scarves (chunni’s) trailing like banners.

Did I mention the cows?

Quiet street. Hindu altar. 
Unloading bricks by hand.

Walking, praying, singing - my favorite way to start the day in any country.

Wherever you find yourself today, I encourage you to start your day by talking to the Lord. Share your heart with Him.  Look up to Him. Find strength for your day.

The Journey Continues ~ Pat 

“Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.” Psalm 5:1-3 KJV

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Morning Comes Early: Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka

The resident rooster of our hotel compound takes his job very seriously, and seems to be programmed at decreasing intervals. His first enthusiastic reveille is before 5:00 AM. Then he takes a wee power nap. I noted the second round at 5:20, and a third, slightly less robust version at 5:36. A weak 5:44 crow increased in volume over the next 7 minutes, seemingly roused to greater strength by competition of a neighboring  rooster's call-out. 6:07 hears him still at it. And the sun hasn't yet kissed the morning air over Kilinochchi. My guess is that he keeps it up until daylight heeds his insistent call. Great. Just what I never knew I was missing: a rooster with an inspiring work ethic. Sigh.

But there is the lovely bed tea being served at 6:30 this morning, so I am thankful for his reminder that I have better things to do this fine morning than lay in bed tap-tapping on my phone a critique of the in-house wake-up performance.

We breakfast at 7:30, to leave promptly at 8:00, to give plenty of time for travel over a very rough road to our first of two eye clinics today. Bed tea is an addicting way to start the day - black tea, impeccably brewed strong but not to bitterness, with scalded milk and sugar on the side, and graciously presented as you see in the photo below (in which Pat is praying a prayer of thanks for bed tea.)  Bonus: it is perfectly acceptable to partake of bed tea while wearing your lovely house dress. My first sip of bed tea even generates forgiving thoughts toward our rooster.

At 6:11, someone flipped a switch to begin the ambient birdsong for this morning. And the rooster continues still. To quote my exceedingly cheery mum's oft-repeated refrain on childhood mornings, 'Time to rise and shine!' (So glad to opt out of the historically accompanying flipping on of the overhead light.)