At

one place in his book Mere

Christianity, C. S. Lewis suggests that each morning

starts the same way for everyone. When we wake up, thoughts about

what we hope to accomplish that day flood our mind. Lewis writes that

our plans for the day resemble wild animals that rush toward us.

I

don’t know if this describes how a day typically begins for you.

But Lewis goes on to describe something that everyone should

experience each morning. He encourages us to pay attention to another

reality: the deeper life we have in Jesus Christ. Instead of fretting

over the concerns of the new day, we should allow God’s peace to

flow into us.

That

sounds like a wonderful description of morning prayer. It’s what

Psalm 5 describes as being a two-way conversation between us and God.

We speak, and we listen. We pray, and we wait. We act, and we

receive. We begin the day with God.

Morning

prayer sets the tone for the day that follows. If the morning begins

with worry, that will only increase as the day moves along. But if we

start out by enjoying time with God and receiving strength from God,

we will more likely remain in his peace as the day continues. There’s

no better way to begin the day than with prayer.