Everyone who knows me well knows that mornings are sacred to me. Especially mornings with Jesus. One of my favorite memories of David was when he was five years old, our first summer at our house in Texas. I had a new front porch with a small table and chairs where God met with me each morning for coffee and a special time of prayer. I will never forget the way God just drew me in that summer. Mike went to work, David slept in, and I took my Bible, my journal, and my prayer book out to the table on the front porch every single morning and stayed out there till David got out of bed and wanted breakfast. It was the most precious thing when he woke up one morning, came out to the living room, opened the front screen door to look at me and say, "Are you spending your time with Jesus, Mommy?"
Ever since that summer, I've guarded my mornings, treasuring that time. I can't stand to start my day without it, without that intimate time of prayer and Bible study. Once you taste it, you realize you never want to go back to a hurried, frenzied morning ever again. Who wouldn't want to spend a morning rehearsing the day's events with the one who orders our steps, knows what's coming, and knows how to prepare us? Who wouldn't want to spend time with someone who speaks words of love and affirmation to them before anyone else has a chance to tear them down? Who wouldn't want to start their day praying over their loved ones, entrusting them to the One who created them and has a divine purpose for each of their days?
After watching the movie WAR ROOM (still my favorite movie ever), I wanted to create a special space in my home as my personal war room, a place where I could fight my battles in prayer and pray for other people in their own battles. In the summers, I had my front porch and a little caddy of books, journals, notecards, a Bible and colored pens that I could take outside with me. In the colder times of the year, I had a special prayer chair with a shelf and a lamp beside it where I could store my little caddy.
This particular year, surprisingly, turned into a year that I have truly had to FIGHT for that time. I found out about a Bible reading plan that took you through the Bible chronologically in a year. It would require a bit of a time commitment, but I really wanted to see the entire Bible laid out in the order that it most likely happened, and I loved the idea of joining my sister-in-law on her second journey through. I guess Satan felt pretty threatened and made sure it would NOT be easy to complete. I would try to listen to the Scripture on audio, and then after the Scripture, I would listen to the podcast that kind-of retold the Scripture in modern-day language and explained a few fascinating cultural things that I may have missed.
In my normal quiet time routine, it would have been easy, but somehow I fought for both the time and space to be alone. My neighbor decided to come outside with his two german shepherds to water his lawn early in the mornings precisely when I would go outside on my front porch, even when it was still dark outside. Mike worked strange shifts, sometimes very early in the morning, meaning he was out drinking his coffee while I was trying to have my prayer time (I pray out loud, so that didn't work out so well). With his shift changing from day to day, there was not really any consistency for me, either. My son came home from college often and camped out on the couch in the living room since I had taken over part of his bedroom with an extra rack of clothes. My back porch and yard got taken over by Mike and David bringing so many of Mike's dad's things back from Indiana and never finding a place for any of it, leaving me feeling a huge lack of peace if I tried to sit out there. Our surroundings really do have an effect on some of us, no matter how hard we try to not let them.
Then there were the house showings, the two days I stayed in the hospital, and then the big move after that. We stayed in a camper for awhile at New Song and then for awhile behind our "new" house. It's hard to have that prayer time inside a small RV with Mike sleeping less than ten feet away, so while at New Song's property, I sat outside. Until it rained every other day. Then on our own property, I'd get up and go inside the living room in the house early every morning. Except when family kept coming to visit and camping out in that living room. Nights got cold quick, so we eventually moved into the living room, so I hung out in the cat's room in the mornings. A room in desperate need of renovation with an odd odor, in addition to the litter box odor. Then I ended up in Texas with David, staying as a guest for almost three weeks in a friend's house--without my headphones. When I came back home with David in tow, Mike had finished renovating the cat's room into the spare room, where we "moved in", giving me the living room back for my mornings, except that now David slept there. We got our kitchen table out of storage, so now that's where I sit, with David sleeping less than 20 feet away. And now, it's really cold in the kitchen because we're heating the house with a wood stove, so the warmest and coziest place is the living room.
So as you can see, it's definitely been a FIGHT to find both that sacred time or that sacred space. But I was convicted the other day of placing a higher value on my own comfortable surroundings to spend time with God than I was on just cherishing my time with God. My war room is my heart and Christ is with me wherever I am. Paul didn't let prison stop him from spending time in prayer. Jesus didn't let the constant crowds around him keep him from getting up early in the morning to go outside on the mountain to pray.
Of course I look forward to a quiet, cozy living room to set up a prayer chair area and spend time alone with God or a quiet deck to sit outside and soak in the nature around me this coming summer. One day I won't have to fight to find that sacred space again, but I will always continue fighting for that sacred time.
I pray that you, too, will fight for that sacred time with God before you start your days. Now that I'm coming to the last few days of reading/listening through the Bible chronologically, I highly recommend the journey. I've learned a lot and see the Bible much more vividly. Things connect and come alive in a way they never have before for me. I will post links for you to get started, but make sure you come prepared for a fight!
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