睡眠可以让我们从一天的烦恼中获得解脱，尤其在我们闭上双眼，停止思考之前，把我们的问题都藉着祷告卸在十字架下的时候。我们可以和诗篇的作者一起，呼求怜悯，恳求神在困苦中不忘记我们。我们可以长舒一口气。
但当我们醒来，迷迷糊糊的感觉消失后，前一天的重担可能又回来压在我们身上。我们可能只想蜷缩在被子里，躲避这个世界。
这就好像我们在一个干旱的沙漠里，我们的心灵渴望那活水流进血管来更新我们。我们在祷告中向神举手，说：“我的油箱空了，请给我加油。”
我的继母玛拉（Marla）说，在她接受癌症治疗期间，眼看着她的第一任丈夫因阿尔兹海默症生命逐渐衰竭，那时，早晨总是一天中最难熬的时间。没过多久，她治疗新一轮癌症的方案也没有了。然而，通过这一切她证明了，每早晨，当她举起干渴的心，喝上一口清凉的活水，神就赐给她一剂清新的不止息的爱。
早上好，我的神。我已经准备好了。
主啊，愿我每天醒来时，首先想到的是你，让我把信心放在你身上，好使这世界的忧虑退去。阿们。
诗篇 143
1耶和华啊，求你听我的祷告，留心听我的恳求，凭你的信实和公义应允我！
2求你不要审问仆人，因为在你面前，凡活着的人没有一个是义的。
3原来仇敌逼迫我，将我打倒在地，使我住在幽暗之处，像死了许久的人一样。
4所以我的灵在我里面发昏，我的心在我里面凄惨。
5我追想古时之日，思想你的一切作为，默念你手的工作。
6我向你举手，我的心渴想你，如干旱之地盼雨一样。（细拉）
7耶和华啊，求你速速应允我，我心神耗尽！不要向我掩面，免得我像那些下坑的人一样。
8求你使我清晨得听你慈爱之言，因我倚靠你；求你使我知道当行的路，因我的心仰望你。
9耶和华啊，求你救我脱离我的仇敌，我往你那里藏身。
10求你指教我遵行你的旨意，因你是我的神。你的灵本为善，求你引我到平坦之地。
11耶和华啊，求你为你的名将我救活，凭你的公义将我从患难中领出来。
12凭你的慈爱剪除我的仇敌，灭绝一切苦待我的人，因我是你的仆人。
"Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you." — Psalm 143:8
Sleep can bring welcome relief from the worries of the day, especially when we leave our problems at the foot of the cross in prayer before closing our eyes and resting our minds. We can join the psalmist in his cry for mercy, his plea that God will not forget him in his distress. We can exhale.
But then we wake up, and after the grogginess wears off, the burdens we were carrying the day before can come back and load us down again. We may just want to curl up under the covers and hide from the world.
It can be as if we are in a parched desert and our souls are craving the living water that we need to have running through our veins to renew us. We spread out our hands to God in prayer, saying, “My tank is empty; please refill me.”
My stepmother, Marla, said mornings were always the hardest times of the day when she was going through past cancer treatments—and while she watched her first husband fade away from Alzheimer’s disease. Before long, she was also running out of options for treating yet another bout with cancer. But through it all, she testified that each dawn, God delivered a refreshing dose of his unfailing love as she lifted up her thirsty soul for a long, cool drink of living water.
Good morning, God. I’m ready.
Lord, may you be the first thing on my mind when I wake up each day so that the worries of the world fade away as I place my trust in you. Amen.
诵读: 骆云秀
片头: 张妙阳
