Always take your first opportunity each day to spend time in
prayer.
THIS. This I struggle
with. My first opportunity of the day is
as soon as my alarm goes off. But, I hit
the snooze button….three times. That gives me fifteen minutes of not actual
sleep but not actually getting out of bed either. Come to think of it. My first alarm goes off
at 4:45am. I’m not really sure why,
except to remind me I have another hour and a half left to sleep. The second alarm goes off at 5:30 am. At this point, that one is just
laughable. That was my good intention
side saying, “hey, get up early! You know
you are happier and more productive when you do. You can pray. You can get in some Yoga time. You can start your day in solitude before the
hustle and bustle of the morning routine.
When that alarm goes off, I just cancel it and roll over. Resistance slays me every morning. When I get up at 6:15 am, I’ve already been
defeated 5 times. Taking five loses in a
day is horrible! Yet I do it to myself
every morning before my feet even hit the floor.
Am I spiritually healthy?
When I become spiritually unhealthy, one of the things it distorts
is my personality. It keeps me from
doing what God called me to do, being the person God created me to be and from
relating with others in healthy ways.
Most of life comes down to four questions:
Who am I?
What am I here for?
What matters most?
What matters least?
Am I spending most of my time on the things that matter most? Or am I distracted by a million little things
that don’t really mean anything to anyone significant?
The answers to these questions take a long time to develop. One way to develop is through the daily habit
of prayer. Even just a few minutes each
day, 10 minutes each day, God will powerfully answer these four questions. God will show me who I am, what I’m here for,
what matters most, and what matters least.
How do my best days start? My best days always start with prayer
or sitting in silence with the Lord. The
best days also include morning yoga.
This week, I will strive to start each day in prayer. I have put together a make-shift prayer
corner for myself. Before spending money
on a comfortable setting, I’ve borrowed items form other places in the house to
create my prayer corner. I’m hopeful
having a place devoted to nothing else but quiet time with God, will help me
develop a daily habit of prayer. If I am
successful this week with my new set up, then I can look to update the corner
to really my desired place. I also want
to include short periods of physical exercise each day. Whether that is a few flights of stairs each
hour at work, a walk around the plaza, morning and evening yoga or a quick walk
around the block, exercise increases my spirituality. I strive to do these because they help me
become the best version of myself.
Focus:
God wants to bless me with spiritual vitality.
Act:
Establish a daily habit of prayer.
Start with The Prayer Process.
Pray:
The Prayer Process
1.
Gratitude: Begin by thanking God in a personal dialogue for
whatever you are most grateful for today.
2.
Awareness: Revisit the times in the past 24 hours when you
were and were not the-best-version-of-yourself. Talk to God about these
situations and what you learned from them.
3.
Significant Moments: Identify something you experienced in
the last 24 hours and explore what God might be trying to say to you through
that event (or person).
4.
Peace: Ask God to forgive you for any wrong you have
committed (against yourself, another person, or him) and to fill you with a
deep and abiding peace.
5.
Freedom: Speak with God about how he is inviting you to
change your life, so that you can experience the freedom to be
the-best-version-of-yourself.
6.
Others: Lift up to God anyone you feel called to pray for
today, asking God to bless and guide them.
7.
Pray the Our Father.
Amen.
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