I know some of you, if you are anything like me, read the part about “morning’ and immediately began making excuses as to why you could never accomplish what I am going to discuss in this article. Because if you’re like me you’re not a morning person, at all. I’ve tried, trust me, I aspire to be a morning person, but just the thought of ten more minutes of sleep is always so appealing to me in the morning and usually nothing is so important that I can’t just rush when I’m putting on my makeup, or just not fix my hair that day. My other go to excuse it that I’m busy. Who isn’t? We all think we are the busiest person in the world and with school starting now you have even more of an excuse to hit the snooze button a few more times because you stayed up late last night doing homework. But you know what excuses are good for? They are good for not allowing you to change something about yourself that you actually want to change. It’s easy giving into our excuses, it’s hard actually getting up and making the change.

So what is your morning routine? Your alarm goes off, your eyes open, you shut your alarm off, and then what? Do you immediately get out of bed, wash your face, brush your teeth or stay in bed and check all the social media apps you can, sometimes twice, to check up on what you have missed? My morning routine I would always roll over shut my alarm off and then start browsing snapchat, and Instagram. If you are like me and you check social media or your notifications first thing, have you ever woken up to something that upset you on social media? Or a text sent from a friend, or family member that completely starts your day off in the worst way possible? This actually just happened to me a few days ago. The entire rest of the day I couldn’t help but feel hopeless for myself because my morning put me in such a bad mood, it stayed with me throughout the entire day. Has that ever happened to you? If so, I might have a way to help.

Side note: Sometimes the only place you can escape the stress and burdens of this life it seems is when you are sleeping, because when you wake up everything begins pilling on, life duties, stresses, responsibilities, but once we understand that we are not supposed to be burdened with these feelings and that we can give all of these afflictions to God then we will truly start waking up joyful and excited for what God has in store because we are no longer worried about our own plan but about what God’s plan is for us.

The way you start your day, is usually a pretty good indicator of how your outlook on the day is going to be. If you begin your day filling your mind with things of this world then it’s pretty safe to say your day will be consumed with your mind focusing on how you look, how you sound, what other people are thinking, or how you can do something for yourself. If you begin your day with spending time with God, your focus will not be on yourself but on others. You will ask how you can help others, be a light in someone’s dark day, you will walk around with a smile on your face because maybe someone just needs to see a cheerful face. You won’t worry about your problems because you know the one true God who takes care of all things.

I have recently started a little challenge to myself, and I encourage you to partake if you feel you could start your day off a little better, my challenge is to seek God before I seek anything else in this world. I feel slightly guilty when I reach for my phone out of habit instead of reaching out to God. I wake up and before I open my phone I say a prayer, and it usually goes something like this, “God, I just want to start by thanking you for allowing me to wake up today. I get to walk out of my room and go do things so many people are unable to do. I also want to take this time before I am influenced by the things of this world to lay down my cross, lay down my worries, burdens or stressors that may interfere with me following your path for me and I pick up your cross. I lay me down, and I pick up love, I pick up kindness. I just ask that you guide me and give me the words to say to the people who need to hear them. In your name I pray, Amen.” It’s not always the same, it differs, but just saying that makes me feel so wonderful. I then proceed to go to my desk and begin my devotion, all before looking at my phone. It’s hard to break habits, but some need to be broken. If you are looking to take that next step with God, you feel like you are at a standstill I encourage you to wake up and seek Him early in the morning, before anything else.

I hope this finds you when you need it most, and I hope tomorrow you #riseandpray.

God Bless