The Original Love Language

   

     Some days the words pitter and patter from my mind towards the ceiling...they are circular and anxious and feel meaningless...I offer them because I know there is nothing else I can do...when I am most confused, the only place to turn is prayer...

     Other days, like yesterday, I head out for a jog in 35 degree weather and the glory of the sun, and the brisk air in my lungs and the rhythmic put, put, put, put of my feet on the pavement leads me to spontaneous praise for things all around me that I take for granted far. far. too. often.

     And on mornings like today, when my alarm fails to go off (because I accidentally set if for p.m. instead of a.m.) and I am 15 minutes late for a doctor's appointment, I call and tell them I will be late and decide to turn the worship music on in the car and sing praises to God, because what other thing could be done to make better use of a 15 minutes that I would have likely spent breathing shallowly, and thinking anxiously about how I hate...HATE...did I say hate (that's actually a bad word in our house...the girls are NOT allowed to use it, though they try to slip it into questions like "Mommy is it o.k. if I say 'I hate jello? Or, I hate peppers? Or, I hate mushrooms"...yes, my dears, I suppose that is o.k.) to be late.

     Instead of being anxious  about being late I said, "Thank you God for this time" and I sang...

     ...hopefully you weren't watching me (:

     I'm done thinking that it is pure coincidence that the mornings I get up to pray are the days that I have more patience and am more graceful to everyone.

     I'm done thinking that the extra 20 minutes in bed will be better for my health...really Lisa?

     "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you"...those words, they seem to be ringing as a mantra in my head this week.

     I am using them to replace the ugly, the stressed, the ungracious that rings in my mind far too often.

So how do we seek Him first...prayer...first and foremost. 

"The men who have done the most for God in this world have been early on their knees. He who fritters away the early morning, its opportunity and freshness, in other pursuits than seeking God will make poor headway seeking Him the rest of the day. If God is not first in our thoughts and efforts in the morning, He will be in the last place the remainder of the day."  E.M. Bounds

If I become better at just one thing this year...If one thing could become more of a regular practice...not even just a daily practice, because it already is...but a moment by moment practice...a pray without ceasing practice...that would be a worthy resolution...