Starting the day off right...

What a great day! Thursdays are becoming the coolest day of the week bc it’s pretty much designated as my day off even though most of the time I’ll do work even if I’m out of the office. Nevertheless, it started w/ a trip to the bank and although I did have to pull out a significant amount of money to support my living in a building habit, it’s always nice to see that you actually have more than a goose egg in your account.

Therefore, I decided I’d celebrate by going to Barnes & Noble—where I all too often find myself to be—and try to put a big dent in the book I’m currently reading for my mentoring called “Life Together: The Exploration of Faith in Community” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Well, as I was reading I came across many things he said that made me have to sit back and take a breath and try to digest before I moved on. I’m convinced that there are books other than the Bible that God speaks to you powerfully through and meets you right where you are telling you exactly what you need to hear. One thing I constantly struggle w/ is starting my morning off w/ a morning prayer; quieting myself before the One whom the day was created from and offering it up in thanksgiving. I am usually so preoccupied w/ setting up my “to do” list in my head or on my little notebook I carry around that I either forget or consciously neglect to stop and be still before my Maker. Now, I’ve gotten over the thinking that I’m so much less of a Christian when I don’t have my “quiet time” every single morning and God keeps a tab of when I do or don’t do this, but I’ve also come to appreciate and am convinced that starting the day off w/ a quiet time—or whatever you want to call it—has profound effects on my day and my dealings w/in it. This is a (spiritual) discipline I am trying to improve on greatly. Too often I get so caught up in worrying so much about what I have to do in the all-to-often short hours of the day that my personal time w/ God will come if a lull in the work comes. Usually, the lull never comes. But, today I came across some very challenging and encouraging words from Bonhoeffer that I want to share w/ everyone who reads this—whether it be student or worker or both—and hope it will also serve as a challenge and encouragement to you as well. Don’t get discouraged at the length bc I promise it is worth the read.

“…from this achieved unity of the day the whole day acquires an order and a discipline. These must be sought and found in the morning prayer and in work they will be maintained. The prayer of the morning will determine the day. Wasted time, which we are ashamed of, temptations that beset us, weakness and listlessness in our work, disorder and indiscipline in our thinking and our relations with other people very frequently have their cause in neglect of the morning prayer. the organization and distribution of our time will be better for having been rooted in prayer. The temptations which the working day brings w/ it will be overcome by this break-through to God. Decisions which our work demands will be simpler and easier when they are made, not in the fear of men, but solely in the presence of God. ‘Whatever you do, work at it w/ all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men’ (Col 3:23). Even routine mechanical work will be performed more patiently when it is done w/ the knowledge of God and His command. Our strength and energy for work increase when we have prayed God to give us the strength we need for our daily work.”

Amen.