Putting Him First.

Morning comes and I find myself on my knees, supplicating my Heavenly Father for guidance, direction, strength, and grace.  Then I retreat to my chocolate-brown couch to curl up in a fuzzy blanket and read His word.  From this vantage point I can see to the left my beloved painting of Christ walking on the water and to the right, the serene countryside through the picture window.  This is my time with the Lord, and I treasure each minute.  With young children who wake up early, it isn't long (only 30 short minutes), but I strive to make it quality time.  The morning hours, are to me, so quiet and still and ripe with promise of a beautiful day.  It is in the stillness that I feel closest to my Father and can introspectively examine the state of my heart.  Despite how tired I feel each morning as I awake and contemplate another busy day with small children, this one practice of a morning devotional has greatly blessed my life.  It is worth the sacrifice of a little sleep.

It hasn't always been this way.  Since the time I was young, I have always tried to spend time in the words of scripture, but because of changing times and seasons, it hasn't always been first thing in the morning, and it hasn't always been for the same amount of time.  It has been quite a journey to finding the perfect way for "me" to feast on His word, but I can attest that for now, this way of physically putting Him first as well as mentally, is the way He has led me.

We are all different, and our schedules and demands placed on our time differ as well.  But one thing can be common among the host of Christ's disciples.  We can strive to always put Him first.  We can soak in His word and meditate upon it throughout the day.  We can teach what we learn to our little ones who live at home, or who are all grown up and living away from home.

And now, some of the practices that have helped me strengthen my own spirituality daily are as follows:

*In my morning prayer, I ask the Father to bless me with inspiration to apply what I will read to the day's needs.
*I purchase an inexpensive copy of the scriptures each year so that as I read each day I can mark them up and write in the margins what impresses me and how the verses apply to my current situation.  In this way, my scriptures become a sort of study journal for me to go back and reflect on how far I've come.
*I leave the scriptures open on the coffee table to one of the pages I have studied and marked so that each time I pass, I am reminded to glance down and remember the words I have studied for the day.
*I pray to follow what I have read often throughout the day.
*My husband and I take a minute to share with each other what we learned before we go to bed.
*I strive to share with my little ones a simplified version of some of the principles I have learned.


May we each have the courage to search within our hearts and ask the Father if we are truly putting Him first in our lives.  I know He will shower down His blessings upon us as we do so.