The Beauty of Spending the Morning Together - Crosswalk Couples Devotional - March 10
The Beauty of Spending the Morning Together
By: Michelle Lazurek
"Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23
Living in the Northeast brings unexpected weather challenges, including sudden snowstorms. On one particularly snowy morning, my husband, an early bird who gets out of the house by 7:00 AM, was home because he had to snowblow the driveway. Because the snow had dampened his overpacked schedule, he was able to take the morning off to clear our driveway and then came inside.
I was making breakfast and invited him to join me. He enjoyed the simple luxury of eating breakfast together. Because he was in no rush, we could have a pleasant conversation about our days and some impending challenging circumstances coming our way. Because of this conversation, we prayed and brought it to the Lord.
Although not every couple can enjoy the luxury of spending mornings together, because we are both early birds, morning is our best time. It also gets our days (and our relationship) off to a good start by enjoying a nutritious hot breakfast, praying, giving our days over to the Lord, and having a heartfelt conversation. That tiny bit of time investment made our days much smoother. Additionally, the challenging circumstances with which we were so concerned resolved themselves.
As the above verse suggests, every day is a fresh start. With the Lord, we always get a clean slate regarding our relationship with him. All the sins we committed yesterday are no longer brought into today. They are forgiven, and God chooses not to remember them anymore. In the same way, spending our morning together was like giving our relationship a fresh start.
We went about our day, working independently on completing our to-do lists. But when we came together in the evening, we were often too tired to spend quality time together. Morning is the best time for us because we can dedicate our time and day to the Lord.
Even if you must get up earlier in the morning, take the time to pray with your husband. Make that emotional and time investment in your marriage. Dedicate your time and your life to the Lord. If time allows, eat breakfast together or enjoy coffee or tea. Being intentional about how you spend your morning will set the rest of your day off on a good path.
Additionally, it eliminates the need for rushing and starting your day off with anxiety and business. The enemy is always looking for a place to attack a marriage. But giving the morning over to God, even if it's just a few minutes to pray, blocks the enemy from invading your day.
It reminds you both that you are a couple. As Genesis suggests, a couple is one flesh, meaning one person's problems are the other person's issues, too. But the two who bring those problems to the Lord have a better chance of having a thriving marriage and resolving those problems with peace, hope, and joy.
Be a couple that dedicate your morning to the Lord. Regardless of how busy your mornings can be, get up earlier and put the emotional investment into your marriage. By starting each day off by giving the day to the Lord, your day may not be without strife, but you may be able to handle it in a Christ-like manner.
Father, help us dedicate our mornings to you as a couple. Help me learn to get up earlier and pray with my husband. Help us cast our cares on you at the start of each day so that we don't carry our burdens with us the rest of the day. Please help us to know that you are with us always and that each day is full of new mercies because of your goodness. Amen.
Related Resource: Engaging with God in a Technology-Saturated World
Many of us feel hurried, and hurry is costing us more than we realize. The Unhurried Living Podcast with Alan and Gem Fadling provides resources and training to help Christian leaders learn to live and lead from fullness rather than on empty. After realizing the toll technology had taken on his connection with God, his community, and even himself, Carlos Whitaker took radical steps to disconnect in order to reconnect. He spent nearly two months living screen-free at a monastery, an Amish farm, and his own home, experiencing profound transformation along the way. If this episode helps you recenter your work and life on God, be sure to subscribe to Unhurried Living on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an episode!
