When you think about your mornings, what feelings immediately rise up?
Do you think: chaos, rush, get-it-done?
Or... do you think: quiet, still, intentional?
Before I was a mom, I was a teacher. My mornings always felt chaotic. I was getting up early enough, rushing around to get dressed and out the door, getting to work with the time I needed to again rush around preparing for students to enter into my classroom for the day. There weren't many mornings of slow, methodical starts.
When you have a newborn (or let's be honest babies in general), your mornings are inconsistent. Somedays you are up 3, 4, maybe more times throughout the night. When does it count to even start your day?
These seasons are challenging, but I encourage you to take some time to reflect on how you can add moments of intentionality to your mornings. Can you carve out 5 minutes to start your day in prayer? Can you wake up 30 minutes earlier to get in scripture? Can you take just a minute before getting out of bed to thank the Lord for another day?
As with everything we do, we will have to adjust through seasons, but I wanted to share what is working for me in this time and space. But let me just say... I am not perfect. I am still working on consistency. I am growing.
Taking time out of my morning to spend in prayer, reading scriptures, and being present with my Heavenly Father sets me up to be a better wife for my husband and a better mama for my kids. I notice a vast difference in my patience level when I have taken a few minutes of my morning to be quiet and still, versus when I am waking up and rushing across the house to immediately tend my children.
I try to get out of bed 30 minutes, to an hour, before I can count on getting my kids up. They are at an age now that, when they do wake up, they can spend a little time playing in their beds without needing my immediate attention. I make a warm drink to enjoy (tea, coffee, lemon water.. I tried bone broth and just couldn't handle it..), I open my home, journal, pray, read scripture, listen to soaking worship music.
If you are just getting started on your faith walk or need some inspiration on what a step-by-step quiet time can look like, I will share mine below. If you have an idea of what you think may work for you, skip on along!
Thank God for another day, my family, my body, etc. before I even lift my head off the pillow.
Open up home (curtains, calendar, make warm cup of something to drink) and pray for the Holy Spirit to be present in our hearts and our home.
Sit in my chair: turn on soaking worship music, take a few deep breathes and take out my Bible and Journal.
Journal a prayer to start my day; use Bible app for verse of the day; journal prayer to align with verse, use guided scripture to learn more about what the scripture means or how I can apply it; use the guided prayer on Bible app; add to prayer list, write down any scriptures or prayers that stand out to me in my journal.
If I am working through a study or book of some kind, I take whatever time I still have to work through this.
*Some days I spend an hour in this time, some days I only have 10 minutes before I have babies calling for me, and THAT IS OK! I just do what I can and thank the Lord for whatever time I can spend with Him*
With all this being said, I understand that it is not in everyone's best interest to wake up before their kids. Some kids are early, early-risers... luckily mine are more of 7:00 kind-a-kids. If you have the early morning crew, maybe your mornings look like shared "quiet" time. You get the kids out of their rooms, have milk/coffee/morning snack and all sit around a candle or coffee table to read in your pajamas. The kids may have puzzles or a quiet time activity. It may be sending them out in their coats and pajamas to play outside while you sit with a warm cup of coffee and your Bible for 20 minutes. This rhythm may take more planning on your part, but you know your kids best. Find what works for you.
In the newborn stage for us, I journal less and listen more. More podcasts, more audio Bible. I trace their little hands in my Bible when they are a part of my time. I nurse babies while praying over them.
We adjust, but we still worship.
This morning during my quiet time, I read part of Psalm 143 that I felt was the perfect prayer to start my morning. If you need a place to start, consider praying this verse. Repeat it even. Post it on a sticky note somewhere; save it in your Notes app; write it on your mirror in expo marker.
Psalm 143:8
Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you.
As we enter another year, another season in life, another step in our faith journey, let's find intentionality from the start of our day. Let's prepare our hearts as we prepare our homes. Let's surrender to what the Lord has to say and do for our lives.
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