Morning Routine

January 30, 2020

“O God, you are my God; early will I seek you: my soul thirst for you, my flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land where no water is.” —Psalm 63:1

It’s been a long time since we all managed to get together—my brother and sister in law, my sister, mom, and Linda. It was a wonderful evening, talking and laughing for about three hours. Among other things, we talked about habits, one of which was our morning routines. My brother is an early riser, born of his years on the farm when the cows had to be milked by 6:00 am. It’s not unusual for him to be stirring at 4:30, 5:00 for sure. Judy however, will wake a bit later and lay in bed reading her Bible and praying. “He turns on Fox News; if I watch the news that early in the morning, it ruins my whole day!” she exclaimed. When I questioned how her day would go if she started out with CNN, she just rolled her eyes. 

Judy had touched upon a secret I’ve learned but don’t always practice. What we do first thing in the morning has the potential to shape the entire day. In a few weeks, I’ll be preaching on Deuteronomy 30:15-20, where Moses entreats the Israelites to “choose life.” We must choose life because our default is death. When I wake up in the morning, if I don’t choose to focus on God’s grace and mercy, I’ll almost certainly default to worry and fear, or to grousing about the latest dumb or diabolical political decision made in Albany or Washington, none of which I can do much about. I have to deliberately avoid the newspaper, Facebook, and email feeds, many of which I’ve eliminated from my daily inbox for my own sanity and spiritual well-being.

It’s amazing to me how easy it is to scroll through that stuff; the word “addiction” comes to mind. And it’s not as if I don’t know what people are going to say. Before I even start, I pretty much know where any given article is going to end, no matter which side of the issue I’m reading. I actually prefer articles from those on the other side of the aisle, because I need to know how others are thinking, but I’ve cut way back on all of them.

In the above psalm, David reveals the problem and the solution. The problem is our thirsty souls. We cannot slake that thirst in the dry and desolate land of media of any sort, social or otherwise. This world offers no satisfaction to a starving soul. We must as the Bible says, turn to wells of living, or flowing water that will never run dry. Jesus himself said it: “If anyone thirsts, let him come unto Me and drink.” (John 7:37) Early in the morning is a good time to do just that if I want to start the day off right. I do, so I will.