This morning I was awaken from my peaceful slumber by some very inconsiderate feathered friends having a little get together in the trees outside of my bedroom window. I stumbled out of bed and opened the shutters so I could close the window and at least try and get some peace to go back to sleep at this ungodly hour (cough cough)…. As I opened the shutters, in front of me was the most gorgeous sunrise.
I was so inspired I then opened all of the shutters and lay back down on my pillow watching the sunrise over the horizon. After about only a minute I couldn’t stand it any longer… I had to get up and go outside to enjoy this as much as I could.
As it was, it was only 30mins before I usually get up and it was almost like God was looking down, laughing and saying ‘You could be enjoying something like this every day if you weren’t lazy and got out of bed just that little bit earlier’.
On Sunday at church one of my new friends shared over communion about being distracted from God (*squirrel*)… well this morning was totally the opposite for me… because of God’s creative handiwork in the sky I was distracted toward Him!
It made me wonder…. How much do we miss from God because we are distracted by other things or because we are lazy, or because we are walking around with blinkers on? I have been missing out on an amazing sunrise every morning because I like my pillow… what are we missing out on when we stay home from church on a Sunday because we are tired or the surf is good? Or what about when we don’t give the whole amount that God has asked us to give?
I thought about the rich, young ruler… God asked him to give up every single cent that he had to come and follow Him but the young man was too in love with his money to do that… I wonder how much more money and favour God would have given him had he been willing to give it up for God in the first place?
I don’t want to miss out… I am going to make a concerted effort to get up just that little bit earlier so that I can enjoy the beauty that God has created every morning.
This morning as I was reading my Bible I realised an awesome thing…
Over the past few weeks I have been reading a book called ‘The Richest Man Who Ever Lived’ which is about King Solomon’s secrets to success, wealth and happiness out of the Proverbs, and at the same time I have also been reading a chapter in Proverbs everyday.
As I was chatting with my husband over our romantic Valentine’s Day dinner the other night and discussing my ‘impossible’ dreams, I had a few questions about how I was going to achieve parts of them when I didn’t have a clue about what I was doing! My ever-so wise husband replied that God would show us the way to achieve the impossible. I didn’t really think anything more about what He had said until the very next day when I read a chapter of my book and it specifically answered one of the most difficult questions I had asked… AMAZING!
Again this morning before I started reading my Bible I was chatting with God about a personal situation that I am struggling with at the moment and asking what I could do to overcome in this particular area and as I read my Proverb for the day… there it was… the answer…. plain as day!
The Bible may have been written thousands of years ago but still in Twenty-Ten, as we commit our lives to Jesus and expect Him to help us in our everyday lives, He will provide the answers that we are seeking after.
Some answers may not come as easy as those I have described above but they will come... we just have to look to Him for the answer to begin with.
What better way to start the morning than with a steaming hot cup of tea, the Word of God and a view to boot!!
Until recently I was of the opinion that it didn’t matter what time of day I spent with God in my quiet time… with the busyness of life as it already was, any time at all that I had spare to spend with God was good enough for me, be in morning, afternoon or evening before bed… as long as I did it.
But in the last few weeks where I have had the privilege of not having to get up early to get to work every morning, I have been able to instead spend the very first part of my day with God and I must admit that I have found it so much more satisfying and fulfilling.
Whereas previously I might have read my Bible and had a quick little prayer time before going to sleep and then most likely forgetting any revelation I may have had, I now find the whole entire day ahead of me to think about what God is speaking to me about and how He wants me to apply His Word in my life.
Matthew 6:33 says “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you”.
I know this scripture probably pertains to seeking God first before we seek after other things to try and satisfy our needs and wants but I also believe that it means we should be seeking God first in our day, at the beginning, before anything else comes along and clouds our minds… our first thoughts need to be with God.
So I encourage you, if you don’t already, spend your time with God at the very beginning of your day… it really does make all the difference.
