Prayer and Thankfulness

I fight every morning to do the same thing.

You see I have had a bad habit I have formed and that I do first thing when I get up in the morning.

Instead of praying first thing when my feet hit the floor, I have decided it is more important to turn on my iPhone and check the weather… which leads to me checking my email… which leads my mind to start forming the plan for the day… which takes me completely away from being thankful and prayerful (see my post on Creep here).

I fight HARD not to do this every day. Many times I succeed, but many times I do just as I described above and let my electronic device start my day every morning and dictate my attitude.

How about you?

Lately though I have been more successful at getting up, turning off my alarm, and starting the day praying to God. I also started a thankful journal back in April after I finished reading “The Noticer” by Andy Andrews (you can buy it here). A great book that ultimately reminded me about how important my perspective and thankfulness really are (Ann Voskamp talks about it extensively in her wonderful book One Thousand Gifts as well).

My prayers are pretty weak (at least Satan wants me to think that!) and the things that I jot down don’t seem to be that big of a deal.

But it’s getting done.

And its been working.

And I’ve been (fairly) consistent with it.

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” Colossians 4:2 (NIV)

These 2 things, when done as my first two actions in the morning, have changed how my day ends up going. It always seems to go better, interactions with family and co-workers seem to be smoother, things that happen to me throughout the day seem to be handled with more grace, and overall my heart and mind are more in the right place than the wrong place.

I challenge you today to do what a Real Christian Businessman knows he should do and put more discipline into your morning ritual.

What do you have to lose if you try?