In the quiet of the morning

I love morning time.  I have always been a morning person instead of a night owl.  But in the last couple years, I wake up a little early so I can have a little one on one time with God without the distraction of my family.  My head is clear and my mind is rested.  I guess fear sleeps a little late because during those wee hours, I can hear God much more clearly and my thoughts seem to be able to conquer the world. 

Lamentations 3:22-23 reads, "God's loyal love couldn't have run out, his merciful love couldn't have dried up.
They're created new every morning. How great your faithfulness!  I'm sticking with God (I say it over and over). He's all I've got left." (The Message).  God is there for us in the mornings.  It's like He's brewed a fresh pot of coffee and He is waiting on us to join Him!  He is there, patiently waiting, to pour His pure and perfect love into our lives for the day if we will just take the time to recognize Him and drink of His cup.  I have found that if I will fill myself with His love before I ever encounter anyone else, then the love He has poured into me will "spill out" on others like my darling husband and precious kids.  I can tell a difference in my attitude if I don't have my "time" with Him, and so can my family!

Now did this "quiet time" come natural?  NO!  I use to get up, get my cup of coffee and turn on the news to see what was happening in the world.  Life was great, or so I thought, and I hadn't even entertained the idea of spending some time with God.  That was until an acquaintance of mine told me about getting up early and giving her "first waking hour" to God.  I will admit, at first I thought she was crazy.  After pondering that a few days, I decided to give it a try.  The first day or so I was a little groggy but then it slowly became routine.  So, 4 years later, my quiet time has become precious to me.  I will also admit, there are days that I have "skipped" and I feel a little void in my life those days.  I didn't get "filled from His cup" so my cup was not full therefore I might have snapped at my child or husband or had a thought that wasn't too pleasing to God! 

As I sit here and type this, I wonder how different our churches would be if the members actually cracked open their Bibles EVERY morning and got filled from the Lord rather than ABC, Fox, or CNN?  What if we stood on and believed what the Bible reports rather than the news stations reports?  What kind of impact would it make on our lives?  I can't control what others do, but I can control me and I'm going to choose to stay in His Word EVERY MORNING and believe Him.  If I can just do that, I hope the ACTIONS of His Word in my life will spill over to others lives and they will want more of Him.  More you You Jesus, and less of me!