Morning Habits

For many months now our eldest child David, who is now 11, has been getting up most mornings at 6:15am, 30 minutes earlier than the daily morning wake-up time in the Zilkie home.  He has been doing so in order to spend time praying and journaling.  I invited him to try this daily practice at some point last year while I was up doing the same, and for incentive I offered him a cup of coffee from the pot I make and drink each morning.  Initially he said "yes" because I know he likes to drink coffee and also because he was intrigued by my invitation to do what he saw me doing in the morning when he woke up.

(***Let me step up on my soapbox at this point and encourage you parents to model the important things that you do in your life...for your children to see.  You may not know it, but they are watching and for a time in their life they do look up to you and trust what you invest your life in is of potential value to them as well.  Don't be afraid to let your children see you do virtuous things. I do not believe the words of Matthew to "hide in your closet so that your acts of righteousness are not on display" apply in this context.  How else will our children learn the necessity and value of these same things in their lives if they don't ever get to see you and I doing it?)

Most mornings that I am up, David of his own accord, sets his alarm and joins me out in the living room with his journal and his cup of coffee.  Some mornings when I don't get up, he still gets up on his own, and if there is any coffee left from the day before, he'll nuke it in the microwave for a minute or two, and has his "quiet time" on his own.  For David, this time has become a habit in his life.  Now when asked about why he does it, he says he enjoys it because "it helps him get his thoughts and his heart focused before the rush of morning chores and the busyness of the Zilkie home once everyone wakes up."  

Knowing David is a child who processes, and that he has some adolescent anxiety, I see how this morning time is so valuable for him and helps him get ready for his day and whatever may be in store.  Most importantly though, David is learning the value and importance of communicating with his God, his Lord, his Savior, and his True Father in Heaven.  This regular communication and his desire to meet with his Father and Creator most mornings is THE MOST VALUABLE THING he has learned in the Zilkie home--bar none.  Whatever else by God's grace Julie and I have been able to teach him, this singular, daily habit...which the Holy Spirit has worked in Him, provides the greatest likelihood of TRUE SUCCESS in his life, more than any other singular thing we could teach or he could learn.  

Why is this??? (...if you don't necessarily agree.)

As a parent, my influence in my child's life is limited and erodes with each passing year.  Yet, each of us has a Creator and a Father who loves us for all time, pursues a relationship with us, and wants to speak to us about this life He has given to us and the love He has for us.  There will come a day when David and I will hopefully be friends; when he may seek me out for an opinion or some elderly wisdom; but as I am my own man today...so too will he be his own man someday as well.  Knowing that he meets regularly with the True Authority in this vast universe and who is also the final authority in his own life, gives me great comfort and encouragement for the days, months, and years ahead of him.  Once I and my influence have passed by the wayside,  the Father who loves him best will still have his ear and a strong foundational relationship from which to lead, provide, guide, correct, rebuke, and restore him for the blessings and failures that life will bring.  

(Actual fruit born from this "Morning Habit" in the next post...)