Monday Morning:

Wake Up
Grab Phone
Scroll Social Media, Email, News Updates… all the things.
Freak out because I accidentally spent 40 minutes scrolling my phone
Jump out of bed
Aimlessly wander to the kitchen to get breakfast started
Feel a bit lost and behind
Keep trudging through my day… oh wait! Jesus. I should pray, probably. Dang it. I was supposed to do that this morning. Where can I fit it in?
Repeat every morning of the week

Do your mornings feel a little bit like this? A little hazy?

Nothing disastrous has happened but you feel a bit lost, unmotivated and distracted?

This was me. I would wake up and scroll for way longer than I meant to and then lose sight of my goals for the morning or what even my purpose was supposed to be that day. I felt a bit behind and distracted by thoughts of getting back to those comments, messages and emails I had been notified of in my sleep.

I realized I just wasn’t reaching my goals in the morning. I had plans to drink coffee and read a devotional. Plans to sing with my Bowen boy and start our day off together, without distraction.

As cliche as maybe it sounds or as much as I hate admitting to it, I was addicted to going straight to my phone in the morning.

Instead of filling my head with my own thoughts, God’s word and some necessary silence, I was filled with:

New outfits I should save to buy
Free activities I need to download to try with Bowen
A few recipes I know I’ll never try
Memes that do make me laugh but don’t enhance my life
And top it off with a few jealous thoughts of “why can’t my house be that pretty? Why can’t I be that thin?”

The main message I was receiving in the morning was, you’re not enough. You need to be doing more.

I don’t think God meant for our first thoughts to be these. In fact there are so many verses in the Bible that reference intentional mornings …

Psalm 143:8 Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.
Psalm 90:14 Satisfy us in the morning with your loyal love! Then we will shout for joy and be happy all our days!
Psalm 5:3 In the morning, O LORD, hear my voice. In the morning I lay my needs in front of you, and I wait.
Mark 1:35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and
went off to a solitary place, where He prayed.

What I’m not telling you…

I’m not telling you that you need to get up at dawn or spend an hour drinking coffee and reading the Bible (though that sounds GLORIOUS).

I’m here to give you a realistic three step morning routine that you can make as short or as long as you want. It can be at whatever time you wake-up and the only requirement is that it doesn’t include your phone or any other media.

So, here are the three steps:

Before you consume the world’s opinions on who you are and what you should do through your phone, television whatever media you consume, take these three action steps first:

Do some sort of movement
Spend time with God
Spend time using one of your gifts

before you scroll your phone in the morning.png

I’ll break them down a little bit more:

Movement:

I do a simple routine of stretches that lasts probably 3-5 minutes. It isn’t elaborate… it’s probably on like 5th grade PE level but it helps connect me to myself. Helps me realize my body can move and also it gives me time to just be in my own thoughts while I stretch.

Your movement in the morning could be:

An exercise routine
Dancing
Stretching
Yoga
Walking (outside or in place to music)
Anything that gets you motivated to move!

Spend Time with God:

I struggled for a long time believing there was some magic secret to studying God’s word. I had to follow a procedure or a set of rules. This really turned me away for a long time (and sadly, a lot of that was made up in my own head). So now, I do what helps connect me to the words, what helps me remember scripture or just simply end with feeling I spent time with my God.

Your time could be spent:

Water coloring scripture
Writing out scripture
Journaling
Going through a study book (She Reads Truth is a favorite of mine)
Reading a quick devotional (“Pressing Pause” is my favorite right now)
Sitting and praying (it’s simple and sometimes I need that!)
Writing out your prayers
Memorizing scripture

You don’t have to do the same thing every day but I do encourage you to do it without audio or video so that your mind can think its own thoughts and not be inundated with someone else’s voice.

Use One of your Gifts:

Lately I’ve been dancing and singing some songs with Bowen. I recently sang one on a Facebook Live. They are just little good morning songs with actions that make me happy. I love to sing and I feel it is one of my gifts.

The reason I include this is because I think it helps remind me of my purpose, who I AM and who God made me to be. I’m reminded of the me before I was a wife or a mama or all those other identities we take on in our lives. Everyone has gifts and talents. It may take you a while to remind yourself of what those are because cleaning, folding laundry, cooking and more cleaning seem to take up a lot of our energy, but they’re there.

What if I don’t know my gifts?

I once heard a quote on being burnt out and how to become happier… it said, “ Do more of what you did when you were a child.”

What did I do? I sang Disney songs at the top of my lungs on the swing set, put on dance productions, played dress up, did a craft nearly every day and set up a store to sell all the contents of our basement back to my parents. It is sort of crazy how the joy of those have all somehow stayed with me into adulthood. I feel like it’s such a beautiful and tangible way to begin searching for your gifts.

Your Gifts Could Be:

Crafting
Writing/Journaling
Coloring
Singing
Swinging at the park!
Dancing
Writing an encouraging note to someone
Cooking
Decorating
You name it! The possibilities are endless!

This morning routine has been a game changer for me. I’ve found it so much more motivating to get up knowing exactly what I’m going to do. I feel more confident in myself and more in tune with who I am. I am not flooded with thoughts of not being enough immediately when I open my eyes.

It hasn’t been an easy change and honestly I still struggle but the rewards have far outweighed any challenges.

You are enough. Let’s take action so that we can fully believe it, sweet friend.