Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,
    for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go,
    for to you I entrust my life. – Psalm 143:8

I always enjoy these extra cool mornings when the water temperature is greater than the air and the Tar gets a little mist hovering over the surface. It’s even better when there is a little more water in the river but Monday morning was magical all the same.

Of course it is impractical to carry a heavy DSLR every time I leave the house but I do wish I’d had it in my hand – with telephoto lens attached – when I spotted the cormorant wading in the low water, half in the mist, with the sun filtering through to silhouette the elegant bird against the rush of light.

Then, when I did get close enough the bird responded to my movement and took off suddenly, outstretched wings catching the light as it banked, a startling luminescent blue sparkling like stained glass and I could only watch in wonder.

Morning light always tips the natural world toward the supernatural, changing the shape of things, heightening the contrasts between light and dark, mortal and immortal, spiritual and material.

And so, for a moment, I am more of angel dust than human flesh and I have no difficulty anchoring this new day in prayer.

God is like the light of morning at sunrise
    on a cloudless morning,
like the brightness after rain
    that brings grass from the earth. – 2 Samuel 23:4