And each morning and evening they stood before the Lord to sing songs of thanks and praise to him. (1 Chronicles 23:30, NLT)
I’ve never been much of a morning person. This was especially true when I was a child. I’d wait until the absolute last possible moment to get out of bed. But, my morning “wake-up call” began at 6 a.m. every weekday, courtesy of my mother, Marion Medlock, who was a morning person.
She didn’t just knock on the door and say, “Time to get up.” Oh, no–she was far too joyful for that. My mother had an entire musical extravaganza worked out.
She’d begin with her rendition of “This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.”
All of this singing was accompanied by very loud handclapping, and if that didn’t do the trick, she would flip the lights on and off in time with her singing.
At the time, I thought this morning ritual was pure torture, but as I grew older, I realized that I didn’t have to be a morning person to praise the Lord in the a.m.
In fact, I discovered praising God in the morning was actually scriptural. Who knew?
Psalm 59:16 says, But as for me, I will sing about your power. Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love. (NLT).
So, as you might have guessed, I proudly carried on this tradition when I became a mom. I even sang the same song, accompanied by loud handclaps, and my own light show. And my girls moaned and groaned, almost as much as I had years before.
Nevertheless, we began each day praising God and thanking Him for another day–some of us a little more than others! I found that it started our day on the right note, setting the tone for our morning routine and commute.
Though my mama is in heaven and both of my girls are now in college, I still find myself singing in the mornings. Sometimes I’ll bust out, “This is the day that the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it!”
Other times I sing songs that I used to sing as a child at Camp Wildwood such as: “Praise Him. Praise Him. Praise Him in the morning. Praise Him in the noontime. Praise Him. Praise Him. Praise Him when the sun goes down.”
Why not join me, morning people and non-morning people alike?
Even if you’re not a gifted singer, and even if you’re a little more reserved and quiet in your worship, that’s totally fine, just as long as you get your praise on in your own way.
Maybe you can put in a praise and worship CD and begin praising God for the many blessings in your life during your morning commute.
Or, maybe you can get the whole family involved and bust out a song of praise on the drive to school–whatever works for you, works for God. It doesn’t matter if your voice is less than angelic or even if you’re totally out of tune, God likes it.
And, there’s no better time to start praising God than during this Thanksgiving Season, so go ahead. Get your praise on tomorrow morning! You’ll be so glad you did!
