early mornings...

Being a teacher, I have to be at school earlier than the students to prepare for the day. I usually get up at 5 am, which is the earliest I've ever had to get up on a daily basis.
There's something that I've noticed on my early-morning drives to work on my way to work... I'm out too early to actually see the sunrise, but I get to see the beginning of it. But this is what happens.... I get in my car and I can see the sky getting lighter over to the east. As I'm driving, when the trees break up, I can see the colors in the sky. This morning, there were no clouds, so it was just pure sky... a small hint of redish-orange on the horizon, which fades to a yellow, then to a small, faint green shade and then a massive expanse of blue... which fades to deeper blue as you look up and over to the west. Most of my drive is north, and there are a lot of trees, so I can just see the sky getting lighter on my right... and I get so anxious to see the orange and red, because I know it's going to be beautiful. Then, on my last stretch of road before I turn onto the road my school is on (it's not even a mile) I'm finally going east and there's a break in the trees.... It's one of the most beautiful few moments of my day. Then, I fight my urges to just drive and park somewhere where I can watch the sunrise and turn north onto the road my school is on, and the color hides behind the trees. After I park my car, if I'm lucky, I can see little hints of color at the top of the trees... and sometimes the color of the sun reflecting off of the clouds in the sky...
It's absolutely beautiful.
For me, this also brings something else to mind...it makes me think about life and how throughout all of it, we get to see little glimpses of God's glory... but we won't get to fully experience it until we're with Him in heaven. But when we see those little glimpses... we're so excited for the next one we'll get... and it's SO beautiful...