Morning Really Has Broken

I picked up the husband from work last night and we went for a meal.  After the meal we stopped off at the shop to buy a few goodies to nibble while the Celtic match was on. 

While I was waiting, I was listening to the radio.  They were playing strings of songs.  People were to phone in with suggestions for the next song in the string based on the last word of the title of the song currently playing.  The word “Monday” in the song title led to the next song “Monday Morning” so the following song had to have “morning” in the title.  It wasn’t enough to come up with a song title, but you had to be careful enough to make sure that the last word in the title gave you room to move on. 

Many listeners suggested “Morning Has Broken” – “Broken”?  They could work with that, so they played the Cat Steven’s version.

It was a musical trip down memory lane and I belted out the words.  Here are the words Cat Stevens left out:-

Cool the gray clouds roll, peaking the mountains,
Gull in her free flight, swooping the skies.
Praise for the mystery, misting the morning,
Behind the shadow, waiting to shine.

I am the sunrise, warming the heavens,
Spilling my warm glow over the earth.
Praise for the brightness of this new morning,
Filling my spirit with Your great love.

Mine is a turning, mine is a new life,
Mine is a journey closer to You.
Praise for the sweet glimpse, caught in a moment,
Joy breathing deeply, dancing in flight.

I seem to remember singing it long before Cat did so I figured he didn’t write it, but I wasn’t sure so I googled it.  It is a hymn first published in 1931.  It is a song to give thanks for each day.  Someone had found the tune, a Gaelic melody, and asked a young English poet to come up with the words.

I also googled it as an image to see what would come up.  The majority of pictures were sunrises in various shades of glorious.  There were a few images of Cat himself and a disc cover or two.  Scattered in among the images were Easter cards. 

Cat Stevens I expected.  Sunrises came with the territory.  But Easter cards?

I began to think about that first Easter Sunday.  From the fall in Genesis right up until the day of the resurrection everyday was a battle ground.  Creation was caught up in the rebellion of Adam and Eve.  The ground was cursed.  All life was consigned to a spiral of decay. 

That day when Jesus rose from the dead, that day must have been like an echo of Eden before the fall.  Sin had been dealt with.  Death had been conquered.  I wonder if there wasn’t something that day that registered the change.  Not merely an empty tomb and people scuttling here and there.

Were the colours of the rising sun just that little bit more vibrant?  Was the dawn chorus singing in a slightly different key?  Did the air smell fresher?  Or did the dew on the grass glisten more brightly? Was there something that people just couldn’t put their finger on, something that had changed but they couldn’t explain what?

It was a day that held the promise of forgiveness and a new beginning – a turning, a new life and a journey closer to God.

When tongues are silent, it is left to nature to tell us about God.