Today’s ONE THING…

My commitment to today’s “ONE THING” has been tested just this week.  This past Monday evening following our weekly family meal with all the kids and kiddies I got in my car and made a two-hour trip to Mauldin, SC in order to sleep in a lonely motel room.  Why would I do that?  Because of today’s ONE THING: Guard your mornings jealously.

I had a 9:00 a.m. meeting in Mauldin on Tuesday morning and could have easily left the house around 6:45 a.m. and gotten there in plenty of time; that would not have been a problem at all for me – I’m a morning person.  But having those two precious hours in the morning when my mind was at its best and when I was setting the trajectory for my entire day available to do something meaningful with (vs. driving to a meeting) was worth the effort and trouble of being away from my own home and bed for one evening.

You may think I am low on material to spend time and effort writing about something like this; but you would be wrong.  I am convinced that one of the main reasons people struggle in life is that they do not use their mornings wisely.  They do not start well and thus they do not finish well.  And by the way, I was not always a morning person, it took discipline and commitment.

I often give the following formula to pastors for managing their time:

• Give your mornings to prayer and the study of the Bible
• Give your afternoons to the administration of the church and to tending to your people’s needs
• And give a few of your evenings to the service of your people (the rest to your family)

Your vocation in life may not allow you the luxury of having several hours in the morning for prayer, study and reflection; but I can assure you that if you will pay the price required to be able to spend at least one hour each day in prayer, study and reflection you will begin to see immediate benefits, and over a lifetime you will be transformed.

Please believe me, the way you manage those few precious moments before heading out for the day is one of the most important decisions you will ever make in your life.

And by the way, the battleground for winning the victory in the morning is by managing your evening well – even if it means driving two hours to sleep in a lonely motel room.

_dlk