Faithful to Putting Him First
5 Morning Routine Ideas to Help You Center Yourself
The Typical Morning
We all know the typical morning rush routine: You wake up out of bed with just enough time to get ready for work. You throw on some clothes, get the kids ready for school, kiss everyone and the dog goodbye, hop in your car and take the long commute to work.
Your morning may look similar to what was described above, or it may look even more hectic. Maybe you’re having to jump on the train and commute with several other people to work. Whatever it is, at the start of your day, everyday, you feel flustered, exhausted, and off-center. Let’s be honest. We know we all need to slow down, but slowing down, which is something that should be easy, actually takes a lot of strength, intentionality, and determination.
Imagine
Close your eyes for a moment. Take a deep breath. What would it look like to start off your day centering in the Lord? What kind of image(s) come up for you? What does it feel like in your body?
Take a moment to imagine just for a minute.
Now open your eyes. Was that hard to envision? Were you able to do it? Now here’s the question: How can you create or at least begin to move in the direction of experiencing that at the start of your day on a daily basis?
Centering on the Lord
One of the ways to take time to slow down and center yourself is to focus on the Lord. There are a lot of self-help books and different ways that teach how to slow down and focus on yourself, but as women of God, we know that focusing on ourselves alone is not enough. There is a deep longing in the soul for someone or something more. Rather than let our day dictate us, we should strive to anchor ourselves in God. In His power, and in the peace that He freely gives us, we can become more empowered to handle what life throws at us.
In the Old Testament, we see how God commanded His people to structure their lives in a way that consistently put Him at the center of their lives (e.g. see Deuteronomy 6). This is important, as the human tendency is to move away from God. While there is no commandment now for us as Christians about when and how much time to spend with the Lord, as His people living in a world full of busyness and distractions, we want to be intentional about focusing on Him and making Him first in our lives.
Additionally, we see in the Scriptures that David grounded himself in the Lord at the start of his day (Psalm 5:3). While we don’t want to reduce spending time with God to a formula, we want to be intentional about surrendering our lives to Him, and finding strength and peace in Him.
5 Morning Routine Ideas
Here are five morning routine ideas to help you become more grounded and center your life around God. Being grounded in the Lord at the start of your day can help you navigate the challenges you face throughout the day and bring you to a place of inner peace.
Worship. This can be done with or without music. You can turn on your favorite worship song(s) while you take your morning shower and prepare for the day ahead. Worshipping can also set the atmosphere for you to connect with the Holy Spirit.
Gratitude. Think of 10 things you’re grateful for. You can either write them down or recite them out loud. This can be done even while you are worshiping. Being grateful to God can be an act of worship. Gratitude focuses your mind and your thoughts on the things that you have rather than what you do not have. Gratitude is also shown to enhance mood by releasing dopamine, one of the feel good chemicals of the brain.
Reading, Meditating and/or Listening to the Word. With technology today, there is certainly no shortage of ways that you can read, meditate and/or listen to the Scriptures. The Bible app has phenomenal reading plans. Additionally, YouTube has several channels which have videos simply on meditating on the word of God with soft music in the background. Finding a Bible verse for the day to anchor your soul in can be helpful in creating action steps for you to implement throughout the day to honor God. Reading the Scriptures help to give direction, encouragement, and strength to help you weather the storms of the day.
Prayer. Prayer is a powerful way to help you center yourself in God. This can be in the form of asking Him for what you want and need to get you through the day. Prayer, especially after reading the Scriptures, can be an incredible way to connect with God. Having a prayer partner, or a prayer group, can help strengthen your bond with the Lord, as well as with others who are seeking Him.
Journaling. There is something about getting your thoughts and feelings out of your head and onto a sheet of paper that is helpful! Journaling is an excellent way to provide an outlet for the mini burdens that you carry. And you don’t have to write a novel. Simply jotting down your thoughts, feelings and emotions helps you with greater self-reflection and understanding. Lastly, journaling helps with tracking your thoughts, feelings and behaviors, which in turn allow you to see patterns that may be detrimental to your well-being and therefore need to be addressed and/or changed.
You can today begin the practice of centering yourself in the Lord and setting your intentions for the day to honor Him. Notice I said practice, as we are all works in progress. So be sure that in this process you give yourself grace, as He continually gives you grace.
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