I know I’m in the minority here, but I genuinely enjoy waking up early. Sure, there are mornings I wish I could sleep in—but like clockwork, my eyes pop open around 5 a.m. No alarm. No snooze button. Just me, fumbling in the dark, preparing for the day.
The first thing I do? Let Izzy, my dog, out and get her breakfast ready. Then it’s straight to the coffee. Priorities, right?
This has become my rhythm. My morning routine isn’t flashy, but it’s solid. It’s full of things I prepare for—the predictable parts of the day that help anchor me for the unpredictable ones.
Fancy press calls for fancy coffee
The fanciest part of my morning routine? That would be my French press coffee—brewed in my green Le Creuset coffee press (green was non-negotiable, by the way). I felt it was such an expensive buy that when I use it, I feel fancy. Because my coffee press is so fancy, I had to find an equally fancy coffee. I found a local roast called Terbodore that I recently stumbled across for my morning brew. It’s a little bit of wonderful in those early hours.
I wish I could drink more coffee than my body allows, but I make those two allowed cups count. The reasons behind the sad two-cup allowance are multiple. And since I have to honor that limit, I make sure that the coffee I drink is good coffee.
I enjoy my Le Creuset coffee before the noise of the day rolls in. Of course, I love the routine. But it’s not just about the coffee.
This routine of mine helps me prepare for the day ahead. It prepares me for the things I have planned—such as my to-do list and meetings—as well as for unexpected events, including interruptions, bad news, and sudden changes in plans that I hadn’t anticipated.
Because those things will come, they always do.
I find that when I have anchored my morning in working on my relationship with God, even the unsteady parts of the day don’t shake me as easily. The chaos still comes, and the unexpected still knocks. But I’m not scrambling, I’m standing. Not because I’ve figured everything out, but because I’m sure of Who is walking with me in the blessings and the fire of the day.
Preparing for the day requires regular maintenance
Many things in life require regular maintenance: cars need oil changes, printers need ink, and our bodies (hopefully!) need exercise to stay in working order. It’s second nature to take care of the things we rely on daily.
Because when they’re maintained, they’re more likely to hold up when something goes wrong. A well-serviced car handles the unexpected bump in the road better than one that’s been neglected. The same goes for our hearts, minds, and spiritual lives. When we tend to them regularly, we’re better equipped to handle whatever life throws our way.
The same is true for our spiritual strength, especially in our relationship with God. Preparing for the day means regularly investing in that strength, not just keeping up a routine, but building a strong foundation in our relationship with God that sustains us when life doesn’t go as planned.
Skipping prayer before skipping breakfast
And yet, when it comes to our spiritual health, we can be surprisingly neglectful.
We will skip prayer before we skip breakfast. We will rush past our devotion time to scroll through emails and check social media. It’s not that we don’t care; we do. However, because we haven’t regularly invested time and energy in our spiritual lives, we end up treating that part of our lives as optional.
The truth of the matter is that what we invest our time, energy, and resources in is what we value most.
We acknowledge the importance of maintaining a relationship with God. We agree that it’s essential to maintain our spiritual lives, just like a car won’t run on empty; neither will our souls. However, for some reason, we often find it easy to set aside the discipline of regularly connecting with God.
Our physical senses govern our lives. This is especially true when we haven’t taken the time to train our spiritual senses on a regular basis. We don’t see God with our eyes, we don’t hear His audible voice (usually), and we can’t touch His face or hands. Because He doesn’t seem as “real” as the world around us, we find it’s easy to get busy, distracted, or feel too tired to give God time. Before we know it, our spiritual tanks are running low, and we wonder why we feel distant from God and start to question His wisdom.
Spiritual neglect
Ignoring regular maintenance has consequences. Cars break down. Printers stop working. Our bodies wear out. In extreme cases, neglect can lead to severe damage, even death.
May we learn from the physical and apply it to our relationship with God.
Spiritual neglect may not be immediately apparent, but over time, it can significantly affect our peace, sense of purpose, and relationship with the Lord. Just as we wouldn’t drive thousands of kilometers (or miles, depending on where you are in the world) without checking the oil, we cannot expect our faith to flourish without regular, intentional care.
Every day comes with its own set of challenges. You may wake up tomorrow to bad news. A difficult diagnosis. An unexpected loss. A relationship that was strained or a door you wished were open has now closed.
None of us is immune to those days.
When they come—and they will—how can we possibly walk through them with trust and peace if we haven’t been walking closely with God all along?
An Olympic athlete in my mind
I love to exercise. My love for exercise began in primary school. In those days (the 1970s, eek), Finland had a famous marathon runner, Lasse Viren, who won four gold medals at the 1972 and 1976 Winter Olympics. Many of our family and friends rallied around our home country’s hero by donning sweatsuits of Finland’s national colors, blue and white 🇫🇮.
I begged my parents for a sweatsuit in “Finnish Blue and White” for weeks, and they finally gave in. I wore it everywhere, running as fast as I could, even though I wasn’t very fast at all. In my mind, I was an Olympic athlete!
Years went by, and while I’m far from an athlete, I still love to exercise. You name the kind of exercise, and the chances of me trying it out are pretty high. Weights, pilates, cardio of all types, and even Bollywood dancing (you read that right).
Because I’ve invested a lifetime in fitness, my heart is healthy, and I’m strong enough to keep doing what we do. Plant a church? I’m there. Feeding projects? I’ve got you covered.
The payoff for staying fit, even on the days I didn’t feel like working out, is enormous. It’s not about looking a certain way; it’s about being strong enough to do what needs to be done.
Spiritual strength and consistent training
Just like I won’t grow muscles from one weightlifting session, spiritual strength isn’t built in a single moment of crisis, when we cry out to God and He rescues us (and He will, because He is good).
Those moments of deliverance bring relief, and they feel like growth, just like I feel stronger after one good workout. But real, lasting strength doesn’t come from crisis alone. It’s built over time, through steady, intentional connection with God, day in and day out.
Our spiritual strength grows through consistent training, which comes from regularly attending the spiritual gym. Those mundane tasks that feel so boring are building us. Bible reading, prayer, worship, attending church, and connecting to faith-filled friends all play a part in our growth.
Spiritual strength isn’t built in moments of emergency; it’s built on purpose, over time.
Showing up at God’s gym
If we’ve neglected the discipline of showing up at God’s gym, preparing for the day regularly, we’ll find ourselves grasping at straws, as it were, to find the peace, strength, and comfort we desperately need. And if we can’t find it, we shake our fists at God, saying, “It’s not fair.” No, sweet friend, life isn’t fair. But God is good. He sees the end from the beginning. And He is aware of our pain and our questions. Some of those questions will be answered in the present moment. But many won’t be answered until we pass into eternity with Him. Unless our faith and hope have been anchored in Him, when trouble comes, we risk shipwreck.
Certainly, God is there, even in the shipwreck. But life is hard enough; why endure more pain than is necessary? Trusting God in the storm is the only thing that can see us through. He sees the big picture, the 38,000-foot one, where we only see what is in front of us.
When we walk closely with Him, daily and faithfully, the difficult days, though still painful, don’t affect us in the same way. We know the One who holds us. We have heard His voice before the storm, and we have learned to trust His heart even when we can’t see His hand at work.
If you’ve struggled to find a rhythm in your devotional life, read the following posts for a “nuts and bolts” approach to growing in relationship with God. It’ll require you to create a free account, but that’s well worth the benefits you’ll gain from reading the post.
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