Morning Prayers

I woke up at 7, and I'm probably leaving the house around 8, so I really don't have much time for blogging. In my search for a quick Mormon Messages video to post here, I found one titled simply "Prayer." It reminded me that, in my haste, I had forgotten to say a morning prayer. I have since amended that mistake.

Sadly, I often forget to say my morning prayers. Evenings are easier to remember, because I have a pair of scriptures at the foot of my bed to remind me to read them and pray, but somehow, I don't see the foot of my bed in the mornings. I suppose I could put another reminder where I'm sure to see it, but I'm not sure where I'm looking when I wake up, because I'm only half-awake then, and I don't notice which way I'm looking. Maybe I could hang a picture near my alarm clock. I always seem to look at that in the mornings.

I wonder why we say morning prayers. It's important to pray frequently, and the morning's as good a time as any, but I wonder if there are other reasons why we pray in the mornings specifically. Perhaps it's so we can start our days off thinking about the Lord and about spiritual matters. Maybe we're supposed to commit our day to God, to doing good. Maybe the morning is a good time to ask for "our daily bread" and protection against temptation, as well as whatever other blessings we may need during the day.

I know that how a day starts can be a strong factor in how a day goes. If you wake up late, but don't feel rested, stub your toe as you get out of bed, find the bathroom occupied by the time you get to it, and when it's your turn in the bathroom, you accidently drop a tube of toothpaste into the toilet, you can be pretty sure that it's going to be a bad day. And knowing that it's going to be a bad day is what's going to make it a bad day. Attitude is everything.

On the other hand, if you start the day off with prayer, and maybe a hymn, and a good breakfast, you can be pretty sure that the day's going to be alright.

God wants us to be happy, so He asks us to do things that will help us find happiness, here and in the eternities. I'm sure that morning prayers fit into that somehow. Maybe there are many ways morning prayers contribute to our happiness. But I think I've spent enough time blogging about that. Now it's time for me to work on that "good breakfast and maybe a hymn" part.

A special thanks to Mom for cooking enough potatoes to share. =)