Hope Colored Lenses Print
Written by Chris Tiegreen   
Thursday, 10 September 2009 00:00

Have you noticed that you tend to look at life through whatever lenses you're wearing when you wake up in the morning? If you wake up discouraged, for the next few hours everything looks discouraging. If you wake up aggravated, everything gets on your nerves. If you wake up encouraged, life looks great.

I think this is why a lot of Psalms speak of what we do "in the morning." For example, "I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble" (Psalm 59:16). It's a choice to reset your mind on truth. When you do, the rest of the day takes on a different flavor.

I'm not naturally a morning person, and I've always been annoyed at those who insist that meaningful time with God has to happen before breakfast. Those conversations can happen any time of the day. But I do believe in the value of getting our minds out of "default" mode as early as possible in the day. We need to put on the right perspective—lenses of faith, hope, and love—in the morning. All of life looks different when we do.