The first of our day vs the dregs of our day
What is it that you do first thing in the day? Do you prioritise your day around some earthly task, or do you prioritise your day around your relationship with God?
1 Samuel 1:19-20
19 Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. 20 So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel,saying, “Because I asked the Lord for him.”
On any given day, first thing after I wake up at 5:30am, looks something like wrestling with the kids to eat breakfast and do their ‘get ready for school/swimming/church’ jobs; then, I go to work, or entertain the family for the day; prepare meals, and then wrestle with the kids to eat said meals; spend some time with my husband; have some down time; then after all that, I stumble into bed at about 9:00pm, and usually fall asleep with my reading light on and my book on my face. By the end of the day, I’m pretty tired.
I remember a long time ago, someone wise once explained to me that if we wait until the end of the day to spend time with God, what we’re actually doing is bringing God the dregs of our day – we’ve been up since who knows when, working away at whatever the day has asked of us, and then whatever we have left over, we give to God.
In the beginning of verse 19, we’re told that early in the morning Elkanah and Hannah get up. But notice the first thing we’re told they do – before they do anything else – they “worshiped before the Lord”.
By giving God the first of our day, we’re not only giving him our freshest, but, in a way, we’re giving him our whole day. By reading the bible and praying first thing in the morning, it (re)frames our view of the day in light of our relationship with God.
That’s not to say we shouldn’t spend time with God throughout the day, and even bring him the day’s events at the end as well. But if we’re not giving him the first of our day, we’re not giving him our best.
Vicki Meehan
