Last month I challenge you to have your cup of coffee with Jesus. And I promised you that I would check back with you in a month. Well how is it going? Have your mornings included spending some time with God? Checking in to get in sync with Him. . . to find out His plans for your day. . . to find some peace and refreshment amidst a chaotic world? Here’s a little of my story. . .
When I promised God in 1987 that I would try to spend at least an hour a day with Him, if I had stopped to try to find an additional hour in my day, I probably would have given up before I got started. My intentions were sincere, it was all or nothing at this point – but living the promises out was another issue. At that particular time in my life, I was working between 60 to 80 hours a week. . . plus I had family obligations, friends to spend time with, a tennis game to keep up, and down time for myself. Finding an additional hour a day or even 5 minutes a day was nearly impossible! It quickly became evident, that if I didn’t set aside a specific block of time each day, this new endeavor was not going to be.
I found it was best to have my time with God at the beginning of each day when nothing would interrupt it – no phone calls, no salespeople, no late appointments. That meant I had to get up at 5:30AM. The first couple of mornings went without a glitch. . .
The alarm clock went off. . .I popped out of bed. . .made some coffee (ok, strong coffee). . .and had my time with God.
But, after all of 3 mornings, I found myself hitting the snooze button on my alarm instead of eagerly jumping out of bed. Being a notorious “snooze button” hitter, an hour elapsed before I finally pulled myself out of bed. There was no time for God. Refusing to give in to failure so quickly, a radical rearrangement of my schedule was needed. To be out of bed by 5:30AM, meant getting into bed no later than 10:30 – 11:00PM.
Early morning proved to be a good time to meet with God and after a couple of months of this routine, the habit was formed. For years I continued to keep my appointment with God early each morning. Decades later I am still convinced of 2 things:
1) I desperately still need my time with the Father, and
2) If I don’t set aside a chunk of time in advance, I don’t spend any time with God during the day.
