Aliel Cunningham

FMF:  {Intentional} All-Day Worship

How we begin our days says a lot about who we are and what we value.  What do we first reach for in those first few moments of wakeful-ness.  For me it is my prayer cards.  On my prayer cards are the name of different people I have met or have heard about that God has put on my heart to pray for.  The other stack of index cards have scriptures written on them.  Each morning, the first thing I do is to reach out for a name and then reach for a scripture to pray over that name.  I do it almost every morning and it has become as natural as making a cup of coffee or tea in the morning.  It is how I wake up.  I take the cards with me to where I can be quiet and begin my conversation with God.  My mornings are very intentionally focused on meeting with Him and entrusting others to His care.

How I wish the rest of my day were so intentionally directed to Him!  So often, I put the cards down and start breakfast and soon get caught up in the rush of the day and I have forgotten the One I began my day with.  My intentional focus has been squandered and scattered to a hundred little errands and details, worries and concerns.  It’s like I have amnesia and within seconds forget the grand truths I have just recited in prayer earlier in the day.   If I am not intentional about worship, then I quickly shaft gears out of my “devotional self” and allow the emotions of the day, the unresolved issues, the nagging questions, the unforeseen interruptions, the fears I have yet to face, the quandaries and dilemmas I live with – all of it – the whole of the day to become my own again.  My problems to solve.  My weight to carry.  My life to figure out.

Without intentional heart-remembering, I act as though my life is my own heavy responsibility with no one to see or care or help bear the load.  And before I know it, I am swept off my solid Rock – away from my anchor of truth and my safe haven of peace – and into the chaotic churning rapids of the day’s engagements.

How different is a day when not just my morning, but the whole of the day is time set aside for worship?  This cannot be done by routine or habit, but with intentional reshaping of my heart’s response to remember that I am not alone and that the One who stands with me is able to bring all the scraps of my day into a beautiful pattern of His glory and goodness.  It takes a deliberate choice to keep turning the moments of my day -the boring bits and the broken bits and the confusing bits – all over to Him to make all things new.

Until that day, teach me to choose You.  Teach me to wait and worship – all the day long.