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Life doesn't start when you open your eyes in the morning, it starts when you take the first step towards Jesus. -Dr. Tony Warrick
Have you ever awakened to the beautiful sounds of birds chirping outside your bedroom window? Or, have you ever awakened to the sweet aroma of your favorite breakfast?
Imagine walking into the kitchen after a hot shower, only to see your spouse cooking your favorite: eggs, bacon, and southern style hash browns. You pour yourself a cup of steaming hot coffee as you sit at the table to enjoy your perfect breakfast and catch up on your preferred newsfeed. Your kids are dressed and ready for an exciting day at school.
You jump into the car, go to work, and accomplish everything your boss put on your to-do list. You have a great conversation about your next promotion and, to top things off, your colleagues surprise you with freshly baked Krispy Kreme donuts, just because they love all the hard work you’ve been doing. You are relaxed and happy because you are having the perfect day.
Lucky you, right?
Then again, maybe that isn’t you at all.
Maybe your day began with the loud, sharp sound of a barking dog or the aroma of burnt toast. Perhaps you woke up thinking about how much you hate your job.
After a hot shower, you walk into the kitchen, only to see your spouse has presented you with overcooked eggs, spam, and oatmeal. You pour yourself a lukewarm cup of coffee as you sit at the table to eat your breakfast and catch up on the local news. You notice your 7-year-old son is lying on the floor with his socks soaked in the milk he knocked over while stealing his sister’s bowl of Fruit Loops. As for your 5-year-old daughter, well she’s still wearing her pajamas and tugging at her hair, which looks like a bird’s nest.
You jump into the car only to realize it won’t start because you left your headlights on the night before. It looks like you’ll be late for work, again. When you get to work, your boss is waiting at your desk ready to eat you alive because of a mistake the mailroom clerk made two weeks ago. A box of donuts would have been nice, but your co-workers really don’t like you.
Bad luck, right?
Not really!
If we are completely honest, we have all had our share of both pleasant and horrible mornings. But did you know that your great days and your bad days have little to do with the occasional morning car trouble, your nasty breakfast, your rowdy kids, or your horrible boss? As a matter of fact, they have nothing to do with luck either! Please remember this:
The tone of your day has everything to do with the first hour of your day.
Believe it or not, how you spend the first 60 minutes of your day can have a major influence on your temperament, drive, mental energy, and well-being. This is why some people grab life with enthusiasm and take control of their futures, and some people have trouble breaking out of the “barely getting by” mentality. Actually, most successful people consider the first hour of the day a prime time for self-improvement.
So, let me ask you, what did you do in your first hour today? What was the first thing you thought about? Was it going back to sleep? Your mother’s cooking? How about building your business? Your first hour has power!
Have you ever noticed how disruptions and difficulties have the habit of striking around the same time your enthusiasm, inspiration, and motivation slowly start to fade? I’ve learned, however, that people who begin their day with productivity can build on that momentum all day long which leads to success. Some of the most dynamic and innovative minds are attacking the most important things first before the demands of the day interfere.
Here are a few of the things I noticed go-getters do before most individuals finish their first cup of coffee:
Whatever they elect to do, the secret to a successful day depends on how they spend their first 60 minutes.
Now I have to admit, focusing on the first hour of my day was a tough lesson for me. I was not a morning person. For as long as I can recall, waking up early has never come naturally for me. I remember hating my 8 a.m. classes with a passion when I was in college, because I wasn’t one of those individuals who sprang into action early in the day.
When I joined the fire department, I was a “night owl.” Instead of sleeping through the night, I would take mini naps in the evening because I enjoyed sleeping through most of the morning after I’d gotten off duty. I had trained myself to be highly productive and creative in the afternoons.
When I became an educator, I woke up at the last possible minute to squeeze in a shower, walk the dog, make some tea, and get to work on time.
However, there was a season in my life, during which I went through a very challenging and demanding time. Life’s troubles were gradually wearing me down and I was becoming realistically bitter, hesitant, and backward looking. I recognized that if I did not do something different and regain control, I was going to be like a derailed train coming off the tracks. Then one day, I watched a video about Tony Robbins’ Hour of Power.
Here is what I learned: If we want to set up a life that is magnificent and push through our toughest limitations, we have to restructure our day. By creating margins in the morning, we can condition our mind, body, and emotions for extraordinary results. I quickly figured out that:
Creating more boundaries in your life will create space for what’s significant, and not simply what’s crucial.
When our boundaries in life decrease, our stress increases. When you’re not hurrying, you have time to think, time to relax, and time to enjoy life. Creating margins in the morning enables greater opportunity! So, I stopped everything I was doing and reviewed my morning routine.
I learned a long time ago that the best way to make changes to anything is to start with the end result in mind. My end result was creating more space between rest and exhaustion, a gap between breathing freely and suffocating from the demands of the day.
Then I wondered, “What would the Christian approach be?”
If successful people are concentrating on their most important concern first, what about making space for our relationship with Jesus in the morning?
Now, please don’t get me wrong, I truly believe that exercise, work, and family are significantly important, but our relationship with Jesus is significantly more important.
Every morning lean your arms awhile
upon the windowsill of Heaven
and gaze upon the Lord.
Then with the vision in your heart,
turn strong to meet your day.
With just a few lines, this lovely but powerful poem by Thomas Blake captured the importance of starting on a spiritual note.
Let me be honest, early morning devotions never crossed my mind, because I had time in my day to read the Bible and spend some time with the Lord. However, once I began the new routine of spending time with God first thing in the morning, my days radically changed. The problems didn’t go away, but the negative, anxious, stressful, and fearful thoughts did start to go away. Little by little, when I started my day by filling my mind with God’s truth, those old thoughts didn’t have a leg to stand on anymore. I was beginning to see my day in a completely new light.
In the first 60 minutes of your day, your thoughts are certainly more expanded, more free-flowing, and more investigational. Therefore, once you have fixed your minds and heart on the Lord, with a rested body, you are able to face the day and whatever it may present. This means, every day with a free-flowing mind, you have an opportunity to meet with God in worship; to thank Him for His love, grace, and goodness. How powerful is that?
Throughout history, the children of God developed a vital habit in life—to make God their first priority. These godly men and women understood:
To break through barriers and move forward in life, the start of your day has to be rooted in the Lord.
The first thing King David did when he awoke was worship God through prayer because he recognized his need for God's assistance. David cried out, “O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch” (Psalm 5:3).
We can also follow the example of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Mark reports that even though Jesus was in the midst of an extremely busy schedule, he still took time to communicate with the Heavenly Father before the burdens of the day began. “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed” (Mark 1:35).
Here’s the thing, I know God is available to us at any and all times. And the wise and mature followers of Jesus Christ will seek Him frequently, regardless of the hour of the day or night. Nonetheless, we need to come into the Lord’s presence when we are at our best and our best is when we first wake up.
For that reason, it doesn’t matter if you are insane like me and wake up at 4 a.m., or sleep until noon. The first 60 minutes of the day are so vital to your productivity because it establishes your attitude for the remainder of the day. Therefore, there is no better way to kick-start your day than with the Lord.
Do you believe we are shaped by our thoughts? Do you believe you become what you think? Oprah Winfrey once said, “You don’t become what you want, you become what you believe.”
Do you agree?
The Bible says in Proverbs 4:23, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flows the springs of life.” Let me say it this way:
Stay cautious about how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.
I know life can become chaotic and demanding at times, but I’ve learned that one simple thought can focus your mind and align your heart. Remember, you were created in the image of God, which means your thoughts and your words can create the life you desire.
In other words, if you think godly thoughts and affirm positive words, you can enrich your life; you can free yourself from any emotional trauma. With the help of the Holy Spirit, the power of your thoughts has an incredible ability to shape your life for greatness.
Can you envision on the canvas of your imagination where one positive and godly thought can lead you each day?
It does not have to become a major out-of-bed experience. It’s about you and Jesus connecting, fellowshipping together. It’s about receiving what God wants to give you each and every day. It’s about coming before the Lord seeking wisdom and guidance.
It might be five minutes, fifteen minutes, or the complete hour, but starting your day with Jesus and meditating on His words will allow you to begin your day with the right perspective and encourage you to seek the joy in the midst of every moment and circumstance.
Spending time with Jesus will empower you to pursue your dreams, create change, and bring unconditional love and hope. That is why I created this book.
In this book,
Please understand that your growth is directly related to the time spent in prayer and reading God’s Word. The more you study, the deeper the things that God reveals will be.
Therefore, starting tomorrow, get your favorite coffee, latte, espresso, or cappuccino and sit down with Jesus. Open this book and allow Him to love on you, speak to you, and lead you. You will feel empowered when you kick-start your day with Jesus and Coffee.
Day 1
