As a nurse I have worked through the night and welcomed the morning. Before my marriage I worked in the neonatal intensive care unit at the University of Michigan (Holden Unit). I worked the night shift, 7 pm to 7 am.
Around 5am we took turns walking along a corridor with windows overlooking the sunrise to get coffee and a roll from the cafeteria. The light streaming in the corridor gave us renewed energy to finish the shift.
In another season of life, I was a birth nurse. Over a four-year time period I attended 62 homebirths, and also five women in labor who were transferred to the hospital to give birth. My role was to assess the progress of labor, listen to the baby’s heart tones, keep the doctor informed and provide supportive care to the laboring mother.
Sometimes labor lasted through the night, but with the morning came a refreshed outlook, the time of birth approaching. The sunrise brought hope.
In the gospel of Luke, Zechariah’s prophecy about John and the coming Savior mentions the hope of sunrise.
“And, you, child will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet in the way of peace.” Luke 1:76-79 ESV
Katholisches Gesanbuch wrote the words for When Morning Gilds the Skies. The hymn was translated into English in 1828 by Edward Caswall.
When morning gilds the skies, my heart awakening cries
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Alike at work and prayer to Jesus I repair
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Photo by Cristina Gottardi on unsplash.com
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Thanks for sharing your memories–and the song.
Yes, Praise His holy name!