Billy Coffey
Billy Coffey

Waking Up

October 23, 2009  

Picture courtesy of Photobucket.com

Picture courtesy of Photobucket.com


My alarm clock is the digital kind that at some preprogrammed time emits a shriek specifically designed to shock me into consciousness. I’ve experimented with others, the ones that guarantee the same result but with bells or music or ocean surf. None seem to work. No matter how soothing the process, my awakening is always unwelcomed and rude.

Which is why my morning ritual has become so necessary. My weekday routine has been simplified and honed over the years. It’s been stripped to the barest essentials to ensure the maximum amount of doing with the minimum amount of effort:

Stumble out of bed, brush my teeth, shower, and pour coffee. Then I leave, using the drive to work to pray and catch a few minutes of my favorite semi-crude redneck morning radio show.

This may sound simple and ordinary, which exactly accomplishes my purpose. My morning routine is designed to be a counterassault on my day—a way to add a layer of the predictable between me and the unpredictable hours that will follow.

Sounds flawless, doesn’t it? It is. Or was. Because last Wednesday something very odd happened to challenge that notion.

I woke up at work.

It was a sudden realization, one that I decided was not unlike my shrieking alarm clock. One moment I was in bed, and the next I was standing in the middle of a college mailroom with a stack of letters in my hand. The memory of how I had managed to get from point A to point B had been at best misplaced and at worst lost.

I could only suppose that I had followed the usual ritual of alarm-wake-brush-shower-pour-leave-pray-laugh. I just couldn’t remember it. And that bugged me. I felt as though I’d somehow cheated myself out of two hours of living.

That notion stayed with me for the rest of the day, and I went to bed that night determined to make sure it didn’t happen again. So Thursday morning I changed things up. I showered before I brushed and laughed while I prayed (which I’m now convinced everyone should do because it was fantastic). I drank hot tea instead of coffee. I took a different way to work and listened to a slightly more intellectual morning radio show.

It was, in a word, better.

Not so much because my morning was improved, because it wasn’t. Showering before brushing my teeth wasn’t very pleasant, but it was pleasantly different. Just like the alternate route to work didn’t reveal anything new but much that was dissimilar. That was the key. Being a little uncomfortable meant I had to pay a lot of attention.

Sometimes I think we’re fooled into believing we have only one birth and one death. I don’t think that’s true. I think with the shrieking alarm of every day we’re faced with a choice to live or die, if not outwardly than certainly on the inside. And it’s the purest sort of choice, one that cannot be bargained with or cheated. Choosing to live a little less is the same thing as choosing to die a little more.

How much do we miss while chained to the Same Old? How many blessings pass us by? How much of life’s magnificence? The ugliness of this world surrounds us every day. It’s as close as the newspaper and the television. It’s a click away on your computer. It engulfs us to the point of surrender.

You can be numb and still see the bad, but you have to pay attention to see the joy. You have to watch for it. Seek it. The beauty that exists in this world is like the wind. It’s difficult to see, but much easier to see its effects. It fires the imagination and inspires hope. It replaces our wandering with purpose.

My morning ritual is more of an embrace now. I’m trying to wake up. Trying to reach out for my day rather than shrink away from it, to draw deeply from life’s well rather than taking a sip.

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Comments

  • http://www.BridgetChumbley.com Bridget

    You know I love each and every post, Billy…. but this one felt like it was written especially for what I needed to hear.

    “to draw deeply from life’s well rather than taking a sip”

    The best advice I’ve heard lately… thank you!

  • http://www.randommusings-helen.blogspot.com Helen

    That is a scary feeling.
    I had that happen to me a couple of times driving to work years ago. After that, I started taking different routes.
    I can’t wake up with noise. I sleep right through it. Lucky for me I have a sweet, understanding husband who doesn’t mind shaking me awake.

  • http://bzzbyannies.blogspot.com Annie K

    Probably why I spend so much time out on the river trail…there is always beauty to be seen and I see something new every time. Especially now…with all of the colors…!

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  • http://lexiconluvr.blogspot.com L.T. Elliot

    you have to pay attention to see the joy. You have to seek it.

    This is a wake-up for me. What a beautiful thing–to choose to see the world differently each morning. To choose life daily. I’ve never thought of it like this. So profound.

  • http://forevrenevernalways1.blogspot.com Jill

    Good Morning Billy!

    Each day we have a choice – choosing life or death. Each day we can either choose to see, hear and do – or miss out on all the blessings God has for us that day.

    God has blessed us beyond measure or anything we are worthy to receive…to look for Him and find Him in everything is pure joy!

    Seeking and finding!
    Jill

  • http://joyce-fromthissideofthepond.blogspot.com Joyce

    Have you ever heard the Sarah McLachlan song, Ordinary Miracles…the words are so beautiful (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Urv7tyeJ7qE )

    Anyway, it popped into my head as I was reading this today…great post Billy…it is easy to let all the bad in this world take over all that is so amazing or even to let the mundane get in the way … I agree…”you have to pay attention to see the joy.”

  • http://www.pridelandsmommy.blogspot.com *~Michelle~*

    The older I get, the more I am realizing that tomorrow (or maybe even the “same-old-same old-day” tomorrow) is not a guarantee. Untimely deaths, lives getting shaken upside down with illness, job loss, personal betrayals….all can happen in a moment’s notice.

    I have been trying to live, like you talk about…..embracing each day and welcoming every twist and turn.

    Peace~
    *~Michelle~*

    ps. those soothing alarm clocks do nothing for me, snooze right through them…..I need the tazer style one myself.

  • http://www.katieganshert.blogspot.com Katie Ganshert

    Everybody needs to read this post. This one really hit home for me. Especially this: “Sometimes I think we’re fooled into believing we have only one birth and one death. I don’t think that’s true. I think with the shrieking alarm of every day we’re faced with a choice to live or die.”

  • http://bethinnc.blogspot.com/ Beth

    Great point Billy. We make that choice daily! I hate going through the motions!

    Bless you & again … HALLELUJAH about the new novel!!!!

  • http://www.trainstutusandtwizzlers.wordpress.com Corinne

    Speaking as someone who is a morning person only by necessity (… early rising children…) this really speaks to me. This morning I tried to close my eyes for a few extra minutes on the floor laying next to my son as he played trains… I’m sure those moments could have been better spent had I embraced the morning instead of hid underneath my kids blankies.

    You’ve got a gift man :)

  • http://thereluctanthomefront.blogspot.com Rebecca

    You can be numb and still see the bad, but you have to pay attention to see the joy.

    This is so true. I had to make a conscious decision to seek joy during the deployment, because it was so easy to just sink into a sad, numb routine just to get by.

    I try to remind myself that we are only given one life and only guaranteed this moment…it can be a kick in the pants on a day when I find myself in a daze wondering where the time went. Thanks for a great post, Billy.

  • http://hisfirefly.blogspot.com HisFireFly

    Wonderful post Billy. I believe God doesn’t desire for us to miss any of the moments He provides for us and I too have slept through too many of them!

    Thanks for the reminder.

  • http://yarnbuck.com Buck

    Yeah, good stuff. When I live today like tomorrow’s guaranteed, well . . . I look more like a fate-ful passenger than a Faithful Pursuer.

  • http://www.lynnrush.com Lynn Rush

    So true when you say, “Being a little uncomfortable meant I had to pay a lot of attention.”

    I think God shakes us up sometimes so we’ll perk up and pay attention a little as well. But yes, changing things up will do that too.

    Maybe I’ll try and stray from my routine a little today. . . MAYBE!

    Happy Friday!

  • http://lorilundquist@blogspot.com Lori Lundquist

    I’m so guilty of “sipping.”
    Reminded me a little of the movie Groundhog Day. Living the same day over and over and over and over… until the discovery is made – you have a choice to shake things up!
    I shrink from routine-type sameness and something inside craves a change here or a change there, but for some reason it takes monumental effort to break out of the mold. Sometimes great things happen when we utilize the gift of making choices and wake up to God’s refreshing newness
    Write on!.

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  • http://www.moonboatcafe.com Cassandra Frear

    Once again, you’ve done it. Touched my heart. And I’m listening to it.

  • http://roxanesalonen.blogspot.com Roxane B. Salonen

    Billy, you are a deep thinker. I know that your fiction will bring many insights as well. How fortunate your blog readers are to be a witness to this unfolding of a new and refreshed life. :) Thanks for coming forth to share with us. Your reach is greater than you probably realize.

  • Katdish

    There is comfort in the sameness of my days sometimes. But I have to be careful not to allow that comfort to become a crutch or an excuse not to attempt great things. Thanks.

  • http://writingwithoutpaper.blogspot.com Maureen

    Your post reminds me of this Augustine quote: “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”

    Here’s to reading lots of pages.

  • http://blog.breakthroughalaska.com jasonS

    I really enjoyed this post. And the thought of you praying and listening to the semi-crude redneck morning show (which, if that isn’t their official name, you should submit it) just made smile. It made me think about myself actually. And I agree laughing and prayer go together very well. Billy, keep grabbing life by the…horns. Yeah, let go with horns. :)

  • http://arise2write.blogspot.com andrea

    You really convicted me with this post. I am not a morning person. I need to be more intentional in my actions to focus and be attentive to what GOD has for me in the mornings.. Simply put: I need to “wake up.”

    Andrea

  • http://www.rachelheldevans.com Rachel H. Evans

    “Being a little uncomfortable meant I had to pay a lot of attention.”

    I can think of nothing more important than paying attention…for better writing and for better living. Good stuff, Billy.

  • http://whiteplatonicdreams.blogspot.com/ T. Anne

    My new goal is to take pleasure and enjoy everything. This has proven to be quite a difficult task, but I feel so good when I put the effort into it. Yes, I said effort.

  • http://realrick.blogspot.com Rick

    I’m with you. But there’s something great about keeping it simply silly!

  • http://eyefeathers.blogspot.com Tara

    I used to leave work and “wake up” at home, which was an hour away from work. It was always an unsettling feeling.

  • http://www.tulipgirl1979.blogspot.com/ Katie

    I know that, “How the heck did I get here?” feeling, usually when driving which is a good thing other drivers don’t know that happens… then again, I doubt I’m the only one. Good thing, I’m not the only one.

  • http://www.tulipgirl1979.blogspot.com/ Katie

    Oh yeah! And I haven’t been around these parts since you got this swanky new setup. Very good lookin’ sight you got going here. :)

  • http://www.justsaytheword.wordpress.com nAncY

    birth and death seen in a new way…cool