When I get up early in the morning to have my solitude time with Him in prayer, I often seek a room in which it is very dark and quiet.  I like to pray without distractions, and if I can find a room that has no light filtering in, this often serves me best. 

This morning, though, my darkest and most private room (the den) had a guest sleeping on the couch where I usually pray.  The family room, which I also have had many a wonderful time spent with Him, also had a person asleep on the couch.  Even the parlor’s futon had two bodies sleeping soundly upon it.

I made my coffee and then decided that I would go outside on the porch to pray.  Although I love it out here to spend my time with Him, it is not my first choice because I can find myself distracted.  And this morning there were many distractions!

When I pray out here, I can’t but seem to help opening my eyes often to see what is going on around me.  Our beautiful horses’ grazing directly in front of me is something I especially enjoy.  This morning, Katelyn, with her almost deer like features and the face of a doe, kept staring directly straight at me.  Her ears were perched towards me, as if eavesdropping in on my conversation with my Lord and Savior.

As I was looking at her, I noticed a scraggly, ugly, coyote meandering through a pasture beyond and wondered when it would be that the horses would notice him.  The thought crossed my mind that I was glad that our dogs weren’t outside yet – they always chase after any unwanted critters, yet chasing coyotes isn’t always the safest thing.  I looked around at the cats and kitties surrounding me and was content that they, too, were not in the pastures hunting for their breakfast. I was glad that the chickens had not been let out of their coop.

I closed my eyes again, but it wasn’t but a few minutes, it seemed, that dozens of birds began the loudest calling to one another.  I opened my eyes again to see what was going on, and there were multitudes of birds flying rapidly towards the big black walnut tree, crying with the loudest sound I’ve ever heard them make.  What’s going on?  I s this some kind of mating call?  Or are they signaling to each other some kind of danger?

When I looked to see if the coyote was still meandering about, I noticed directly in front of me, a deer with its bushy tail prancing across the alfalfa field. It wasn’t long after that I seen another deer following him.  Even as I write this, I looked up and there yet is another deer grazing about.

I closed my eyes again, and the rooster began his morning call.  I opened my eyes, and there was a humming bird directly in front of me, flitting  under the eaves of the porch, and then to my hanging plants, getting ready it looked like, to suck nectar from them.

The owls, which were quiet, now began to hoot.  I love the peaceful, rhythm tic hoot of the owl.  A kitty sitting beside me began to purr.  And then a chorus of bullfrogs began to bellow out, not too far away from where I was sitting.  I glanced to see if I could figure out where it was that they were.

When I got my second cup of coffee, the daylight was now clearly upon me.  The chickens were let out, and to my surprise, within minutes, made their way to the front of our house, parading in front of my porch.  They never do this! The three ducks seemed to be leading the pack.  I considered getting up and chasing them to the back yard (where they belong) but l just left them to continue their exploration. 

The quacking sound of the ducks, the chatter of the chickens, the hoot of the owls, the bellowing of the bullfrogs, the cock-a-doodle-doo of the rooster, the song of a multitude of various kinds of birds, and the occasional neighing of my horses, have led to a very noisy, but delightful morning!

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Got up early this morning (4:30 a.m.) and prayed.  In the nice weather, I like to sit out on the porch if the bugs aren't too bad.  It's usually dark when I first get up, and the sun slowly rises as I sit there and pray.  After brewing my coffee and sitting down in the darkness, I can hear an orchestra of bullfrogs singing a chorus down by the lake.  That is the only sound I hear. Eventually, I begin to see bats darting in and out of the trees (we have a creek that borders our property...bats are a blessing for mosqitoe areas!) .  Eventually, I can hear the squirrels beginning to play and chase each other around, up, and down the walnut trees.  I close my eyes to pray but occasionally, I open my eyes to see what is producing the sounds that I hear.  I don't know why I opened my eyes today at the exact time that I did, but at the very moment I did, I seen a gigantic hawk swoop down and glide between the walnut trees just a few yards away from where I was sitting.  At this distance, the size of this bird reminded me of what birds would look like in prehistoric times, a Jerrasic Park kind of moment.  Prayed about different people and relationships that were predominant on my mind over the weekend.  About 6:00 a.m., I read the Bible and did a word study using a Hebrew Lexicon on Deut 11:1, the word, keep (keep His commandments). 

Bob got up around 6:45 a.m., and we had coffee together sitting out on our big front porch.  We have one of the most beautiful views in the world (in my opinion).  You can not see any homes around us, except way in the far dim ends of the property line, you can see a home that has a horse barn.  As we sit on our front porch, we can overlook the lake with the surrounding walnut trees (abounding all over the property), the rolling hills and freshly mowed alfalfa field, the stone barn, 4-rail fencing framing 3 different pastures, and the small pond at the bottom of a sloping hill with the big weeping willow trees right beside it.  I often remark in the mornings, as we sit there drinking our coffee, that I feel that I am at a bed & breakfast inn, each and every morning.