Miracle Morning February – “Reading” & “Scribing”
February 1st is tomorrow! Will you wake up even just 10 minutes earlier to begin your day with God?
I laid in bed until 7:15AM this morning – a glorious and abnormal treat. I came downstairs and my children didn’t even say good morning but immediately started bombarding me with questions and needs and demands. Instantly, I felt my heart wanting to rebel against them and their neediness. I felt my heart wanting to go into “monster mama” mode. Writing this post during their afternoon quiet time is the first moment I’ve had to myself all day without feeling guilty and ashamed of stealing a few minutes.
THIS is why I need my mornings to start with GOD. THIS is why I need to get my heart sorted out before I start engaging with my family and the rest of the world. THIS is why I need to start my day with worship and prayer and reading His Word.
The final two elements of the Miracle Morning we need to discuss are Reading and Scribing. Remember the term SAVERS: Silence (Music + Prayer); Affirmations (Spiritual Reminders); Visualization; Exercise; Reading; Scribing. These can be done in any order, the SAVERS acronym is just to help you recall the 6 elements.
Reading
Pretty self-explanatory, but for a Christian, I would assume that this would mean reading your Bible and/or working on some sort of Bible study. Devotions are great, too, but if this is your main quiet time, go to the source first. “Hearing” and reading scripture is what will renew our hearts and minds. I love reading through the Bible because I can get a dozen different things out of the same passage I’ve read numerous times. If you go to God with an open, seeking heart, He will be found by you and He will reveal Himself to you through His Word. If you don’t feel comfortable studying the Bible on your own, a Bible study is a good option. Not only does it help guide your study, but it also gives you structure and you will know what to read every single day. This can take away that feeling of “what do I read??” as you randomly flip through your Bible. If you want to become more familiar with your Bible, I would start in the gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Anytime you read from the gospels, the best question is always to ask, “In this verse/passage, what can I learn about who Jesus is?”
One of my favorite Bible studies I did during my last Miracle Morning session was “Finding I Am” by Lysa Terkheurst. In the study, she looks at the significance of Jesus’ seven “I Am” statements such as “I Am the bread of life” and “I Am the light of the world.” She covers the historical and practical implication of those words and how the Jewish audience would have understood them. It was so good.
For this month, I will be continuing my personal study through Matthew (which, in all honesty, I’ve been doing off and on for 2-years now) as well as working through a bible study/workbook called “Uprooting Anger.” Depending on how early I wake up and how much time I have, I may try to read a few pages of another book, but I doubt that I will have time.
What book of the Bible or otherwise will you be reading??
Scribing (Writing)
Writing is so important. I have always loved writing but until this last year, I didn’t realize just how much I used writing as a way of “listening” to myself. Writing is good for your soul in so many ways and can really help you focus your thoughts and learn more about yourself and your life. This article also lists 83 ways that journaling can improve and support your mental health.
As with all of these elements, you need to find what will be most helpful to you. Often, I will journal about whatever I read, or use the writing time to make notes for my Bible study. Kat Lee with HelloMornings advocates taking this time to plan out your day by looking at your calendar, reviewing what you need to accomplish, making lists of tasks, etc. Julia Cameron coined the term “morning pages” which are 3 pages of handwritten…anything; total stream of consciousness. She states that there is “no wrong way to do morning pages,” and the easiest way to begin is to literally “start right where you are” by simply describing your surroundings. Here is one person’s account of how doing morning pages changed his life.
How I spend my days is how I spend my life… and I know that how I spend my morning will determine how I spend my day. I so desperately want to live a life of purpose, of intention, of joy, of peace… and the only way I know how to do that is to go to God. I have been neglecting my time with Him and it is showing in detrimental ways to my family and in my life. When I start and spend my days feeling unappreciated, unloved, unnoticed, and exhausted, I allow bitterness, resentment, anger, and unkindness to fester in my heart. The only way to counter these weeds of the soul that eagerly take root is to immerse myself in worship, prayer and scripture. I know I’m not the only one who struggles with this and I know the truth that spending time with God is truly a matter of life and death. I must commit myself to it.
See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.
I will be posting something here every day of February, hopefully encouraging you and inspiring you to add even just one or two of these SAVERS elements to your mornings. I pray that this month will see your faith renewed, your commitment to Christ strengthened, and your sense of purpose and calling in Him rejuvenated.
“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” May we use this time ahead to truly focus our hearts and minds on our Heavenly Father.
If you are going to be waking up earlier to spend time with God and incorporating any of these 6 SAVERS elements into your morning, please let me know in the comments or by emailing me at karen@inspiredtofaith.com so I can be praying for you!
