Are you a morning person or an evening person?
I am intrigued by the drastic variation of mankind. How can some thrive so completely on watching the sun come up each morning then others not able to really open their eyes until nine or ten o’clock, or carry a real conversation? Those will also likely be the ones going strong into the night while all the others have crashed out.
So which is best? Who gets to decide?
I chuckle, thinking back in those years when Daniel would kindly listen to my ramble and jabber until he literally fell asleep on it. There were times I would promise I’d only tell him one more thing, then I’d be quiet so he could sleep in peace. Once when someone asked us who falls asleep first he said we do at the same time. I smiled. Maybe the last one to fall asleep would have a more clear picture of that?!
Those are all good memories, I would not have traded him for an evening person. Through him, I learned additional values of early morning vigor.
My mom was one of those; she would thrive on her early mornings with Jesus. Then, that last hour or two before bedtime, she would sometimes doze on the couch, occasionally remarking how much she enjoyed hearing our chatter. It made me feel secure, Mom was with us and enjoyed our presence, as she relaxed after a long day of caring for all of us. Dad would remind us of the old saying, “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, and wise.”
I haven’t decided what I am, when it comes to punches and patterns, I don’t fit most of them. As a girl, each morning I would light my oil lamp on my little desk where I would read the Bible, journal, and pray. And now that Daniel is not here to tell me it’s time to move on, I have a habit of hanging around and grabbing those moments after the children have all been tucked into bed. And now, as I write, it’s 3:30 a.m., so no, I won’t try to decide what I am; I am just me!
Interesting how the children have their own way of functioning, even when needing to stick with a schedule and routine. Hosanna will forever be an evening person — unless I miss my guess. Right now she is the one who sleeps with me. Even after waiting on me while I finish up in the office, she’ll usually be awake, and when I come, we enjoy some good chats. When it’s time for her (or the other children, for that matter) to go to sleep we have this thing of saying, “Night-y loves!” as we did when I was a little girl. The children know that that is their signal to not talk anymore. Involuntarily, I heave a sigh as I write this. You see, it hasn’t all been perfect, when I am exhausted from a day of parenting, and the children aren’t ready to settle down, and I slog from one room to the next, it is a pull. During those times I like to think of the words of an old hymn, “Often weary and worn on this pathway below... there comes a sweet whisper to quell every sigh, do not faint neath the load, there is rest by and by ...” It is a promise, it is true; there is rest for all who do not faint neath the load and keep walking with their Savior.
Okay, take your pick, whether you, are a night owl or are wait for that first rooster to start crowing. You are you, and that’s okay; in the end we all have things to work with in keeping our days in perspective.
Ultimately, may each moment of every day be lived in holiness to the God who made us in the first place!
And lastly, this casserole is tasty and too simple not to try for yourself. I remember my mom making it when I was a girl.
Chicken Supreme
2 cups cooked chicken or turkey
2 cups uncooked macaroni
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 cups milk
1/2 medium onion chopped
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
3 Tbsp. butter
1 cup grated cheese
Combine all ingredients in a baking dish. If desired, refrigerate over night. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.
Gloria Yoder is an Amish house-wife in rural Illinois. She is the third writer of The Amish Cook column since its inception in 1991. Yoder can be reached by writing: The Amish Cook, P.O. Box 157, Middletown, Ohio 45042.