16 -- THE MORNING GLORY AND THE GLORY OF THE MORNING
Two names so much alike and yet how different they often are! To illustrate, take the
"morning glory" and the "glory of the morning." The morning glory is a beautiful little flower that
blooms out on the little climbing vines that are often planted about the doors of our homes. The
little vine will climb the twine string until it reaches the top of the porch and then the lovely little
vine will cover the top of the porch, and the flowers will hang in great clusters down over the
doorway. Early in the morning while the dew is on, the whole porch will be covered with lovely
flowers, and as long as the morning stays cool and fresh, the flowers could not be more beautiful --
all colors, red and white and blue and purple, dazzling in the early morning sunlight.
As soon as the dew dries off, the morning glories are ready to drop from their tiny little
stems, and wither up in the heat; but while the dew is on, they are so lovely and so beautiful that
somebody called them morning glories, and that lovely name got out on them. It has stuck to them
like a postage stamp sticks to the envelope. It would make me feel sad if the morning glories were
called by some other name. When you see the morning glories in bloom you know that the dear
Lord has been in the community, for no man could mix his colors to make the vine so dark and
green and fresh, and yet red and white and purple, and, oh, those dark blue ones, how they dance
and shine in the morning sunlight! When I look at them I just want to run and jump right into the
middle of the vine and get my arms full of those lovely little friends of mine, and plant a dozen
kisses on their dainty little faces, and when they raise their tiny but beautiful little heads to heaven
all damp with the morning dew, you just have to stop and look at them. They command you like so
many commanding officers, and I just dare you to go by and not say, "Good morning, morning
glories." If you love the Lord you will feel like taking off your hat to them, for you are in the
presence of perfection and beauty and loveliness. They look like Jesus had spent the night with
them. You feel that He had joined in with them and sung a morning lullaby, given them a parting
kiss, withdrawn just a little way, and was looking through the morning sunlight at a cluster of
morning glories.
But there is a great difference between the morning glory and the glory of the morning. The
glory of the morning is brought into display by the rising of the sun, as that fiery charger rolls up
over the blue dome and shakes sparks of living fire from his outstretched wings. We stand in awe
and are made to wonder at the glory and power of our God, the Builder of the heavens and earth,
and thank God, the Creator of the universe. How strange, how refreshing, how marvelous, how
glorious! Are you surprised that this wonderful hour is called the morning? King Solomon said,
"Who is she that looketh forth as the morning?"
Just watch that fiery chariot as he climbs the mountain peaks, and throws handfuls of
morning light down into that valley. Do you wonder that the lambs are bleating and the birds are
singing and the brooks are humming their morning tune ? Do you wonder that the hens are cackling
and the calves are bawling, and the pups are barking? Just listen as the girls play that organ. It
sounds like a brand-new one. Listen to the boys in the back yard as they whoop and yell, as they
stand on their feet one minute and their heads the next. What does it all mean? Why, man, this is the
glory of the morning. Take another look and you will see mountains of floating clouds and they
will smile on you as you wave them a happy good morning. But the next moment you will see what
looks to be tons of granulated sugar, and trainloads of whipped cream, and you will feel like
throwing your hat in the air and shouting to the top of your voice that the angels are having
whipped cream for breakfast, and all nature joins in a great praise meeting.
And we just look up and say, "Glory to God!" and hardly know why we said it. Well, we
just had to say it, for it said itself; that was our expression of the "glory of the morning." But as we
stand and gaze on the wonder of this glory we hear the humming of the bees and we see them out at
the daybreak gathering honey from the clover blossoms and their little heads are wet with the
morning dew as they have soused them through the dewdrops, gathering their morning meal.
Praise the Lord for the glory of the morning, and praise Him for the morning glory!
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THE END
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