This past Monday was the final day of our ten day trip through Charleston, Savannah, and St. Augustine. With an early boarding time out of ATL, we drove to Atlanta the night before and stayed over, hoping to make the morning car return and airport check-in a little less stressful.

Naturally, we set our alarms on our phones. Naturally, that did not matter.

At 6:00 a.m., we were jolted awake by the blaring beep of the hotel’s bedside alarm clock. We scrambled for the snooze button, only to discover the knob needed to turn it off entirely was missing. Missing. This thing was programmed to sound every ten minutes for the next hour, and the outlet was unreachable.

Game over.

So, up and out of the room and the hotel earlier than planned.

In the middle of the fussing about the snooze button, Michael remarked that it seemed we were, at least that morning, still answering to an alarm clock. My immediate thought: there’s a story in this.

We thoroughly enjoyed our ten days away, but even in this new, seemingly untethered season of retirement, responsibility still exists. We still had a house to return to, plans to keep, and life to move back into. Work may have ended, but obligation did not. It just shifted tempo.

And there’s something to be said for routine. A quieter one, yes, but one that marks time and keeps us honest about how we use our days. No routine makes Michael uneasy. No routine makes me, a procrastinator by nature, dangerously inefficient.

In this season, I’m learning that freedom doesn’t mean the absence of structure, It means trusting God with how our time is shaped. The days still come with responsibilities, rhythms, and reminders, but they no longer feel urgent in the same way. We’re learning to listen more closely, to move with intention instead of pressure, and to rest in the assurance that our steps are ordered, even when the alarm still goes off.

That uninvited 6:00 a.m. wake up call was irritating, but it was also a reminder that even on the other side of the alarm clock, it still has a place in our lives. Just less demanding. Less bossy. More suggestion than command.

And one final lesson worth passing on.  Check the hotel alarm clock before shutting off the light for the night.  

Until Next Time,

Catherine