How Do You Wake Up?

Are you a morning person? Or, is almost painful to pull yourself out of bed to start your day? Some are even able to wake up by a natural rhythm their bodies have created. Certainly, there can be contributing factors such as lack of sleep, late evenings or other situations that impact the way we greet the beginning of a new day. Whether you are an early riser or a late sleeper, we have a choice on how to greet each morning that God has given us.

Our congregation at Otsego has taken on the 22 blessings challenge this week. What is the 22 blessings? It is an invitation to start off each morning by finding (at least) 22 blessings that God has given you. For some, this may seem a difficult task; their mornings may be filled with an alarm clock, followed by the immediate onset of phones, calendars, schedules, deadlines and other stress-inducing thoughts. Before they know it, the day has started at a high-rate of speed without a moment to pray a prayer of thanksgiving to the One who provided you both the morning and the ability to experience it.

In the Book of Psalms (5:3), the writer speaks of preparing our sacrifice in the morning: My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up. In other words, how we can and should plan out our day. Hopefully, your plan each morning isn't just to survive or make it through the next 24 hours (although most of us have experienced this from time to time). When we wake up each day and begin by praising God for the ordinary things we often take for granted, the gift of a new day takes on a whole new meaning with a whole new outlook.

I promise the 22 blessings challenge will be worth it, even if it means setting the alarm five minutes earlier...

Pastor Aaron