Morning Meditation

"At daybreak Lord You hear my voice, At daybreak I plead my case to You and watch expectantly."

-Psalms 5:3

"Very early in the morning while it was still dark, He got up went out, and made His way to a deserted place. And He was praying there."

-Mark 1:35

I often times with out realizing it forget how important it is that I get my day off to the right start. My days look drastically different when I'm able to start them in some form of prayer and meditation. I practice prayer and mediation in a number of different ways. Sometimes, early in the morning outside in the wild among the plants, flowers, birds and trees. Other times, I'll practice my prayer and meditation on the move, while I'm on my morning bike ride or run. I even do it some mornings in the car with the windows rolled down so that I can feel the crisp morning breeze against my face. Whatever the setting is I basically do the same thing --I stop, relax, breathe deep breaths and turn my day over to God in prayer.

During these times I enjoy being outside right in the midst of all the life that God created. I like to listen to the sound of chirping birds, feel the cool morning air, and smell the aroma of the flowers and blooming trees. Being right in the middle of such a beautiful creation gives me excitement and expectation about the creation that God will be bringing into my life in the coming day. Starting my day off this way prepares me to embrace my day for all that it will be. It prepares me to fully live. I think that this is may be why Jesus made His time in mediation such a priority. Reading the gospels it's very easy to tell that, just like us Jesus lived a pretty busy life. A life full of one crazy surprise right after the other. I think that Jesus knew that His days would be busy. He knew that unexpected things would come up. Things that would be challenging and hard to handle well.

Perhaps that's why Jesus made sure He got of to the right start as often as He could. Because He was human and needed God's help and the empowerment and direction of the Spirit just as much as we do. It's easy to forget or overlook the humanity of Jesus, when really His humanity is the whole point of His coming to earth. He came to show us how to fully embrace Life with God. He came to show us what the Good Life lived out in flesh and blood really looks like. The Bible says He is the Beginning, the First, the Originator of the resurrected Life that we too are called to live (Colossians 1:18, Revaluation 3:14).

Knowing that even Jesus thought that it was important to be in mediation and spend time away from all of life's craziness puts things into perspective for me. Even Jesus (the Son of God!) made it a point to daily turn His life over to the Father in prayer. This makes me realize how much I need to do the same. How much I need to daily turn my life over to God. How much I need to soak in the peace that can only come from God so that I can live like my Savior Jesus did --full of the Good Life. Waiting expectantly for all the goodness that I know God is going to create right before my eyes as I take part in bringing His Kingdom of Heaven down to earth, right here and right now.