My daughter, Rebekah, is not a fan of this song. When we were traveling together and it was time to get up I would stand by her bed and sing to the tune of Reveille (loudly, and off-key), “ya gotta’ get up, ya gotta’ get up, ya gotta’ get up in the morning!”
How do you get out of bed in the morning? Do you rocket out of bed simultaneously hitting the alarm button as your feet it the floor, and begin the rush into another day? Or do you smash the alarm’s snooze button a couple times before your feet hit the floor with your eyes still trying to stay closed, wishing you were still under the warm covers?
Most of my life I was up with or even ahead of the alarm. Within minutes I was sitting at my home office desk, coffee nearby, checking e-mail. The alternate scenario is one in which I headed to an airport, coffee in hand, to fly somewhere for work, checking email on my Blackberry along the way.
When I started seminary last year one of my first classes in Spiritual Formation included a prayer project in which were were asked to pray about our day, giving ourselves over to God, and His will for our lives. We were encouraged to do this as early in the day as possible. I tried doing it when I got to my desk and that worked OK for a few days, but I quickly found the temptations around the work environment were too great, and time with God diminished.
Then I hit on a unique idea…I decided to have my prayer time before I got out of bed. It was a challenge at first. The temptation to jump up and get going was there, but I stuck with it, and within a few days I found myself not wanting to get out of bed until I had completed my prayer time.
After a few weeks of opening my day with prayer I realized my days had been going smoother, I was not as impatient, not as stressed, and not as cranky. This is a good thing! I admit I am not always faithful. There are days when I forget, or simply ignore my desire to spend time with God, and jump straight into my day. But I know my best days are those that begin with God.
So if you need to make some changes in your life, if you want to focus your life more on God and His will for your life, then I highly recommend spending time with God before your feet hit the floor every morning. Try it for 30 days, and let me know how you do.
If you want to give this a try but aren’t sure sure how to get started there are two prayers in the Spiritual Development section under Spiritual Formation (A Template for Daily Change, and Prayer of Intentions) that you can use to get started. Each is designed specifically to help you center your life on God, one day at a time.
Do you have other ways you stay connected with God that work for you? Please share!
