Mom, I want my breakfast! Mom, can you please sign this paper for me? Mom, I can't find my underwear! Mom, I spilled my milk. Are your teeth brushed? Get your shoes on and your backpack ready to go. Do you have your milk money and your snack? I can't find my socks! Mom, where are we going today? This is my typical morning, and quite frankly, by the time 9am rolls around, I'm ready to call it a day! The kids are early risers, usually up at 6:30, and from 6:30 to about 8:00am it is a juggling act of clothes, breakfast, backpack, unloading and loading the dishwasher, and a couple hits of caffeine. By nature, I am a nightowl. I would love to stay up half the night and then sleep later into the morning, but motherhood has caused me to grow into becoming a morning person, or at least I can convince myself I am a morning person. After having children, I left my morning prayer routine behind. None of my kids were the greatest sleepers at night, and I found myself sleeping until they woke up, and I would literally roll out of bed feeling like the day had taken control of me. By the third child, I was having as many tantrums in the morning as my kids were, and it was just getting ugly. Something had to give. I finally realized that I needed time to myself in the morning. I needed time before my kids woke up to get my act together. I remember watching my grandma say her prayers in the morning before she did anything else. When we stayed overnight at her house, she would tell us that we would just have to wait for breakfast till she was done with her prayers. Later on in life, having the privilege to live with the Notre Dame Sisters while I discerned religious life, I was blessed to witness these women rising early in the morning to pray. In the Roman Catholic faith, mass is often said early every morning and I used to attend these early services, and again, I would see ordinary, everyday people, devoting their day to God. I finally came to the conclusion that prayer in the morning is absolutely essential to our living a day that is fully devoted to, and completely centered upon God.
Praying in the morning cannot be one more thing on our wish list, or a fleeting idea, or a luxury reserved for some people. It is as necessary as putting on our clothes, for when we pray in the morning, we are clothed in the Christ-mind, and we bring the thoughts and actions of the Christ to all we think and do throughout the day.
It is as important as taking a shower, for when we pray, our hearts and our minds are washed clean of all
that isn't of God, and we live our days in the grace and wisdom of divine order. It is as necessary as the breakfast we put on the table, for when we feed our spirit in the morning, we will not go hungry for the miraculous throughout the day. Praying in the morning invokes the blessing of God on everything I think and do. Praying in the morning brings forth the guidance of my Creator from within, through the gift of intuition, and I am better able to discern what I can do for others, and what I cannot do. The greatest commandment is to love one another as God has loved us. If I am going to help anybody really feel loved today, I must go to my God in the morning, and feel loved in God's presence. I smile more when I have prayed in the morning. I am much more patient with my kids, and myself, because I have prayed in the morning. I am more forgiving of my family members, myself, and all who will cross my path in the day. I handle temper tantrums better, including the prevention of my own "tantrums". I handle cleaning up the same messes better. I am more flexible about how my day is unfolding, and trusting Divine Wisdom that my day is unfolding perfectly. I am more thankful for the little things and the big things. Praying in the morning helps me put into perspective what is really important to me and what is not. I am much more discerning about the meaning that I attach to the events of my day.
I love to pray facing the East. As the sun begins to rise and dissolve the darkness of night, I know that my prayers have called forth the Light from within me, and dissolved the darkness in my thinking and how I feel. I end my time of prayer in the morning by opening the shades on our windows, symbolizing that I now live this day in the Light and I must be Light for my family and anyone else who I will interact with in my day.
It is not always easy to get out of bed when my alarm rings at 5:30 in the morning, but I am never sorry after I've prayed. At first it felt like I was sacrificing my beloved sleep, but when I choose not to pray in the morning, I sacrifice my happiness, my state of mind, and my awareness of how God is working in my life. I've also sacrificed my attentiveness to the power of God's love in my life, and the spiritual eyes to witness the miraculous. Next Week: The Power of Choosing Silence In a Noisy World
