morning rituals

Do you have a morning ritual, something that when you go to sleep at night you look forward to.  If so what is it and if you don’t, why not?

I think I just fell into my morning ritual by mistake and just realized a short while ago that it is what I do every morning. When I lay in bed at night I look forward to waking up, even though I am not a morning person in the sense of being happy and ready to rock. What I do look forward to is waking up to my ritual and routine. My daily way is to wake up at 6 and press the snooze button till approx. 6:30. Before I do anything I grab my i-Phone and read the psalm of the day (I have to sit up to do this as when I stay laying down I tend to fall back asleep in a hurry).

After my reading I get up and shower, dress, brush my teeth, do my hair (lots of glue and gel, like the 80’s), and head downstairs with my phone. When I get downstairs I clean up whatever mess is in the kitchen from the previous night, feed the kitty cat and get ready for my coffee. These day’s I am grinding Cafe Roma from San Francisco and making it in my AeroPress.

While coffee is getting ready I turn plug in my i-Phone to the speakers and listen to my morning music. Today it is Faith And Devotion Of A Satellite Heart by The Violet Burning, but the play list bounces back and forth from Urban Hymnal to Sigur Ros and a few others. By the time this is playing my coffee is ready to press and the morning is just getting better.

When the coffee is done I pour, clean up (to appease Amy), and sit down at the table I am currently at to read, pray and figure out the day. By this time it is approx. 7:30, depending on how long I pressed he snooze button. In my reading I sometimes go through the Celtic Daily Prayer book, or just continue my reading through the bible. Today I read the last two chapters in Ruth. I also sometimes read from the books I am going through like today when I read a few pages in The Long Loneliness.

The other thing I do is pray. I pray for my family, work, friends, opportunities, direction, etc. Today I was praying for my family and my friends who I work with on the Mission Adventures network with YWAM. Yesterday I spent some time praying for Missionaries who work in other countries and for some financial stuff we are going through. I do have a prayer list, but it is on my phone, which today is plugged in so that I can listen to music.

Finally, at 8:00, which was 5 minutes ago I wake up my kids and get them ready for the day so that Amy can get ready for the day.

What is your ritual? Do you have one? If you don’t you should consider it. How do you find one? Well, look at what you normally do in the morning and that is probably it. Then, see if you want to add anything to it and there you go. It is good to have something to look forward to in the morning when you wake up, it makes my day way more enjoyable, not only for me, but for those around me.