Out of bed sleepy head

Did you ever stop to taste a carrot? Not just eat it, but taste it? You can't taste the beauty and energy of the earth in a Twinkie. ~Astrid Alauda

No carrots or Twinkies for me today, just fried chicken and salad. I ate the salad but it didn’t taste like the earth. It tasted like salad. Now the fried chicken, it came close to tasting heavenly. It’s a good thing I got out of bed to exercise this morning.


The alarm clock went off at 4:45 a.m. this morning, as it always does. I couldn’t believe it was time to get out of bed. I closed my eyes for what I thought was just a minute. It was actually 15 minutes.

“Oh man,” I groaned silently to myself. “The gym is already open and I’m still in bed.” I knew if I didn’t get out of bed then, it was likely I wasn’t going to the gym at all today. Before I closed my eyes again, I heard this little voice in my head. At least I think it was in my head. “If you can’t do it for you, maybe you can do it for him.”

Well, that did it. I pulled back the covers and got up.

Lately, what’s been motivating me to get out of bed to exercise in the early morning is my Dad. He’s always been an early riser. He would get up at two or three in the morning to drive his eighteen wheel truck to the pipeline and then be at his first gas station to deliver gasoline before any of us had even hit our snooze button for the first time. Since being diagnosed with cancer, Dad’s had to give up truck driving, something he’s done since he was old enough to drive. I’m sure he would give anything to have the luxury of waking up early and driving that truck again.

So, I get out of bed. I put on my sneakers. I drive to the gym. I exercise. I pray. I offer up that first hour of my day to Dad. I use to offer it up in hopes that God would help Dad win his battle with cancer. Unfortunately the prayers have now changed. Now I pray that he has a day free of pain and that the good Lord keeps his suffering to a minimum.