It’s not always easy to turn off a racing mind so sleep can come in the night. Days can be filled with chauffering kids here and there, meetings, phone calls, drycleaning pick-ups, appointments, dishes, laundry, and lists of to-dos for whatever is next.
Mornings can start with a rush of thoughts as well. Almost like the brain never totally shut off from the night before, eyes can open and immediately be ambushed with a busy brain.
I am guilty of waking up, turning off my phone alarm and walking with my phone to the kitchen. While I wait for my coffee to brew, I pull up the news and make sure nothing crazy has happened while I slept. I check messages and scroll on instagram and keep waiting for my coffee.
This is a very, very bad habit that I want to completely break. The verses I have been meditating on each day have given me exact words to pray and these very words actually have been coming to mind as soon as I open my eyes in the morning. “Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning; for I trust in You” (Psalm 143:8).
God could ambush my mind with His lovingkindness despite my distractions and bad morning habits. But I accept that I have a responsibility, a cooperation with Him in our relationship. What can I do or not do to help my ears be ready to hear His lovingkindness in the morning? It actually starts the night before for me as I try to get in bed at a good time and even before that as I ensure I have tied up as many loose ends from that day as possible. It’s intentionally not scrolling anything on my phone and not allowing those voices or those negative headlines in the news to start my day.
It is praying that God would graciously let me hear His lovingkindness in the morning and being humbly grateful that the God of Heaven and earth wants to speak to my heart. I have not assigned proper value to this precious truth. I want to allow His Word and His Spirit to prime my heart and soul before entering the day full of God-knows-what. And because I am assured God does know what I am going to face, it’s so important to see His face first, to hear His words first. And just like the verse says—I want to hear God’s lovingkindness in the morning because I trust in Him. I don’t need to trust in an influencer’s words. I don’t need to trust in any news headline. I need to trust in God alone.
So I hope you are enjoying these days of June. Maybe your summer schedule is kicking in and things are going at a slower pace for you and your family. I hope so. Or maybe your summer schedule is a bit like mine and the kids’ social lives are taking over the days. Their dentists and doctor appointments that you save for summer time are filling up the schedules and mornings are anything but slow. I hope you will be encouraged and challenged to ask God to help you hear His lovingkindness in the morning. I hope you will be intentional in making time in His Word a top priority. I hope you will find your trust in Him growing with the passing of each of these summer days.
