The Morning Star

Dolphins Awake to Morning Opportunities

Off the Coast of Jekyll Island, Georgia

Mark 14:37 NIV

"Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Simon," he said to Peter, "are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour?"

My students leaned over the top of their desks, heads buried in their arms, and settled into what they hoped would be nap time. Unfortunately, we don't get naps in high school.  I spent the better part of my day tapping tired teenagers on the shoulder and pleading with them to stay focused on the lesson.

Granted, Shakespeare is not easy to face after a four-day holiday, but face him they must.

The seniors read Macbeth's complaint to his wife that he had "murdered sleep," while the sophomores learned Brutus had trouble sleeping in Act I due to thoughts of Caesar's assassination marching through his brain.

Lack of sleep was a constant theme in all my classes today.

My teenagers don't realize how much they sell themselves short by not applying themselves in class no matter how tired they are.

Henry David Thoreau explained in Walden: "However mean (difficult) your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are richest. The fault-finder will find faults even in paradise. Love your life, poor as it is." 

He continues, "The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us. Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star."

Too many of my students are caught up in the difficult moments of their lives and have closed their eyes to life's opportunities. They don't see the brightness around them, but rather, many of them linger in the shadows and dark corners waiting for life to stop for them and bestow upon them the riches they believe they so greatly deserve.

In contrast, Thoreau urges people to take advatage of every opportunity around us. However, we can only claim those that we see in the light of common day.

I want to live like that. In the sunshine. Looking for opportunities to do God's work.  I have spent too much of my life in darkness. I want to immerse myself in the light.
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Lord, help me to stay alert for opportunities that you present to me each day.