Just Breathe

As each day begins, I find myself waking up and automatically making that ever so important list in my head of everything that must be done that day. I rush in the morning to get my hubby’s lunch packed and coffee on before he leaves. I rush to get dressed and try to find a minute to brush my teeth and run a brush through my hair with the thought, “Am I going to leave the house today? Do I really need to fix my hair well or can I just pull it back?” (O.k., don’t judge. You know you do that too sometimes.) I rush to make sure my son it up and getting dressed, then get his breakfast prepared or out for him to prepare. (It is a good thing for him to learn how to prepare his own breakfast.) By the time my husband leaves for work and my son and I are in our classroom, I feel almost breathless. (Of course part of out of breath could be because I ran up the stairs to the classroom.) I then find myself thinking, “Why do I feel so rushed? Why do I feel so stressed and it isn’t even 9:00 a.m. yet?” The reason is because I didn’t start my day off with prayer and quiet time with the Lord. The days I do not do that, I feel so stressed. Now I’m not saying that I don’t ever feel stressed when I do take time for prayer and devotionin the morning, but when I do life seems a bit more calm. I would like to encourage you to take that “breath” in the morning–a quiet time with God’s Word and talk quietly to Him. He is my strength and can be yours as well. Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”