Psalm 90:14 (NIV)

Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,  

that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

I am not really a morning person. At one time, I was a night person, but sadly, the older I get, I’m not very good at late nights, either. Although, I do seem to get a burst of productivity right about the time I ought to be going to bed…catching a glimpse of some cabinet that needs to be organized or a stack of mail that needs to be sorted. But I have lived in a “morning” world for a long time, and that starts to train us to embrace the day whether we want to or not. And over time, we develop morning rituals that help get our days started.

What are the things you do EVERY morning? Much research has been done that tells us that the things we do first each day really do matter. One highly recommended task is to make up your bed. Once you do this, you can celebrate that you have already accomplished one thing and that small things matter. Just one such accomplishment can set the tone for the rest of your day.

In addition to making up your bed, here are some other things often suggested to get your day off to a good start: wake up early, stretch and exercise, drink water, eat a healthy breakfast, spend some time with loved ones, plan your day and get organized, practice gratitude, meditate or pray, tackle something you dread early and get it out of the way. I will say that most of us need caffeine to accomplish all this, yet somewhere in the research it said to stay AWAY from stimulants such as coffee. Raise your hand if any of you out there think that is a really, really bad idea? I see your hands—and I figured as much.

I have discovered that although I rarely wake up hungry for breakfast in the mornings, I DO WAKE UP HUNGRY. And I think most of us do. Every morning we have these open spaces in our lives and we get to decide what we put into the empty spots. We are looking for something that will satisfy us or fill us. Let me ask you, have you ever been hungry, but nothing you find to eat is really quite right? That is how I feel sometimes when I haven’t been to the grocery store in a while. I start opening cabinets and drawers and looking in the refrigerator. The old stale potato chips don’t do it. The leftover spaghetti doesn’t satisfy. The Oreo cookies that have been in the cabinet for weeks don’t do the job. You keep stuffing yourself with things and nothing works. You are full, but you aren’t satisfied. Do you know that feeling?

I think that is how we live our spiritual lives sometimes. We have this hunger in us, this emptiness, but we try putting everything else in first before we acknowledge the hunger within us is a hunger for God. Have you acknowledged that hole, that emptiness, that hunger within you that can only be satisfied by God?

I once heard a speaker talk about the importance of beginning our days with God. He said, “The morning dew is the sweetest.” And though that is a bit cryptic, I think I know what he meant. When I seek God in the morning, I am giving God the best part of myself and setting my course for the day in a way that keeps me close to God all day long.

When we begin our day with God, we are living into a covenant relationship. The psalmist speaks of God’s “unfailing love.” There is a word in Hebrew you need to know if you don’t already: it is “hesed” and if you can pronounce it with a funny “ch” sound at the beginning, you get extra points. I’m not very good at pronouncing it the Hebrew way, but I am a real fan of understanding what it means, of knowing that this one word encompasses a multitude of characteristics of God--unfailing love is shorthand for SO MUCH MORE.

God is constant. God is mercy. God is grace. God is omnipotent. God is always true to God’s nature. If we affirm that God has unfailing love toward us, we are claiming that God can never do other than love us. “Hesed” is the difference between being in a contract relationship with God and being in a covenant relationship with God. At the heart of our relationship with God IS this idea of Covenant, the idea that God reaches out to us and cares about us and will always be true and loyal and faithful to God’s side of Covenant.

When we look for God to satisfy us first, we are living out OUR SIDE of this covenant relationship. So, let me ask you: Do you live as if you are in a covenant relationship with God rather than a contract relationship? Does your relationship with God look like you are trying to fulfill certain obligations, or are you living out your side of a relationship created by mutual love…God’s unfailing love toward you and the loving response you offer back?

Joy happens when we connect with God through covenant and allow ourselves to be caught up in God’s unfailing love—this amazing relationship God offers us that is constant and unchanging and here for us every minute of every day—reaching into eternity. This is where we find JOY, good people of God! God’s presence in our lives is unshakable! Perhaps you would like to memorize this beautiful verse as I have, for it reminds us to seek God first EVERY DAY and let all the other things fall in place around this most important of all relationships!

Oh Lord, help me acknowledge the deep need in my soul and spirit to share with you EACH DAY the sweet morning dew, for nothing else will truly satisfy. In Christ I pray, Amen.

In His Name,

Laura