It's a Monday Kind of Tuesday

I should have known that today was going to be a rough day when I rolled over and hit my snooze button for the fourth time, wishing I could just throw my alarm clock out the window and have a free day off. Again. So I could sleep. All day long.

Yesterday was President's Day – a paid holiday. It is so nice to have a day off without having to use my leave!!! We spent the day with my in-laws, driving our son to a train display, and my husband to Cabela's (almost 3 hours away from our home). We had little sleep the night before because Hunter was up crying all night due to an ear ache. My husband had to run out at 4:00 in the morning (he is so wonderful) to get some Motrin for Hunter, because we had spent the night at my in-laws, and I had NOTHING with me! Miraculously, his ear was fine by morning time, so despite feeling groggy, off we went.

The day was fun, but long. We got home around 7:30 pm (after spending close to 6 hours in the car). We were all exhausted, and Hunter went straight to bed with no problem ... one of the benefits of driving all day long. We all slept soundly, so I’m not sure why waking up was so hard... it just was.

So while today is Tuesday, it really feels like Monday, and my "rough" day doesn't seem to have ended with the whole waking up issue. Oh, no. It couldn't possibly be that simple. You see – I have to be at work by 7:30 (I arrived around 7:15). By 10:00, I went to the bathroom, only to find that the bathroom on my floor was closed for cleaning. Lovely. So I rode the elevator up one floor (too lazy to walk). Fortunately, that one was open, and that's when I realized... my zipper was down. And since I hadn't used the bathroom all morning, and I've never had problems with the zipper on these pants, I can only deduct that I didn't put it up when I got dressed at the crack of dawn – while I was still half asleep. Which meant that I had gone 3 and 1/2 hours with my zipper down.

In those 3 and 1/2 hours, I managed to visit my supervisor's cube twice, went to another manager's office, worked with someone else on a report, walked down to the cafeteria for coffee ... and back, and stood by the printer with my hand on my hip as I impatiently waited for the million-page printout the person in front of me was doing. Which leads me to ask... why couldn't today be one of those boring "sit behind the desk all morning" mornings? Further, why didn't someone bring to my attention that I was not properly ... attired?

And to add insult to injury, when I left the bathroom, I boarded the elevator, hit the wrong button, and didn't realize it until I had gone all the way down to the first floor, got out, started walking to my cube, only to realize... I was on the wrong floor.

Then it dawned on me. In my whole hazy, exhausted, lazy, snooze-button-pushing, zipper-down morning, I hadn't taken one moment to pray. Not one. And, while I must confess, there have been other days where I HAVEN'T bounced out of bed bounding with energy, feeling all perky and cheery and ready to spend time in prayer (I’m so obviously NOT a morning person) ... I've NEVER had a "zipper-down-bathroom-closed-can't-ride-an-elevator-properly" kind of morning. That in itself was a red-flagged warning to me that my day was going to be rough, and maybe I should take a walk around the building and pray.

And that revelation, my friends, brought to mind a scripture... Psalm 5:3 – "In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation."

I may not get scripture in first thing every morning (that comes in around noon-ish), but I always try to start my day off in prayer. I usually pray for my husband and son, my family and friends, and all the extended requests I've promised to pray for as well as my co-workers, etc. I also spend time just praising him and thanking him for his blessing – not just asking him for stuff. When I finish praying, I like to top it off with praise and worship music on my way in to work. I’ll turn it up and sing along.

Obviously, my day just doesn't start off quite right if I don't pray first!

It also seems that I'm "fresher" in the mornings, even though I might be tired. I'm not in as much of a stupor as I am in the afternoon. And interestingly enough, if I don't spend time with God first, then I feel like I'm missing out on some of the exciting things God has in store for me, because my attitude is usually sour!

The scripture I just quoted indicates that God will hear my voice in the morning. Now, I know he hears me any time I pray (Ps. 55:16-17), but I know myself... and it is much more difficult for me to set time aside to pray once the day starts rolling out (or even at night) ... and God can’t hear my voice if I don’t find the time to use it! And I hate giving God my leftover energy at the end of the day. So I often feel like bringing my prayers to God first thing in the morning is like bringing him my tithe. My "first-fruits," so to say.

When do you find it works best for you to pray?

All righty then ... when I look back on the morning I've had ... I guess it's only appropriate that I had one of those "Mighty Mango 'Naked' all-natural, well-being juice smoothies" for breakfast this morning, since I was only one "button" away from really being Naked... huh?