Shaking Things Up at 6 a.m. (08/28/2026

Yesterday morning, I went to my porch with my cup of coffee and a great deal on my mind. I was so looking forward to my time of waking up in the LORD slowly and talking everything over with Him. I took my first sip and then without warning, rap music started blaring from the school grounds 2 blocks away, so loud that I could make out every word of the lyrics and I swear the coffee in my cup was jiggling from the vibrations of the bass. This was not what I had in mind. This was not my normal time with my LORD at the break of day.

The music went on for thirty minutes. I struggled at first. I am used to silence, maybe the sound of birds offering their praise, maybe a gentle breeze through the pines. This was really shaking up my routine. But I tried to persevere like I was taught in life beginning in grade school when the good sisters told us that in prayer, we need to be able to block out the distractions. I’m pretty sure none of those sisters had to compete with rap music at 10 decibels. Finally, I decided that I should use my journal to help me focus more intently. And it worked. Within a few minutes, I was writing my prayer using my mind, my heart, my hand, my eyes, my hopes, and ironically, what began as prayer in a difficult environment morphed into a deeper and more intentional prayer as I worked to honor my LORD with time spent and love shared.

And it dawned on me that sometimes the extra effort makes us appreciate the good things we sometimes take for granted. The shake up at dawn actually turned out to be a positive. Yesterday morning I recognized that I can be a rut person, repetitive, and sometimes thoughtless. Why should the LORD settle for that?  By the end of prayer time yesterday, I felt that my time with the LORD was more precious than the day before because of the extra effort I made to carve it out and to focus on my LORD.

Am I recommending loud music the shakes the windows at prayer time? No. Am I asking all of us to consider our time with the LORD in prayer as precious as it is, treasuring it, being willing to work hard to gain it and honor it? Yes.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well and pray with our whole being.