[Five Minute Friday] Rise

Since I started teaching earlier this year, my life has changed quite a bit.
Every morning my alarm goes off at 5.15 and after a few snooze attempts I really, really have to get up.
In the beginning it was still dark, so I stumbled through my own apartment with just one tiny lamp to not wake my roommate.

I left the house and joined a few other tired faces in the bus and train.
It was simply too early.
However, it was worth it.
As the train made its way through the sleepy landscape, the sun rose. A giant orange ball rose into the sky, pushing away the darkness and drenching everything in a golden light. You couldn’t help but to close your eyes and take in its warmth.

Many mornings I had to think of the verse in the Psalms:
His mercies are new every morning.
What a promise!

It tells me ‘It’s okay. Just try again.’
It reminds me that the failures of yesterday don’t have to haunt my today.
It encourages me to try again. To be myself with all its flaws because there’s a father who looks at me with joy. Just because I’m his.
This mercy inspires me to rise above myself, to step up and out of my comfort zone, a little bit every day.
It challenges me to offer this same freedom to those around me.
They can rise; I give them a helping hand and rejoice with them as they take new steps.

I hope you experience his mercy every morning and allow yourself to live and be in that freedom.
And more than that, I challenge you to extend it to someone else.

Author: Katha von Dessien

Teacher. Believer in the Wilderness. Third Culture Kid. World Traveler. People and Food at the Table Lover. Writer. View all posts by Katha von Dessien