“Off To A Good Start”

Night prayers fortify us as we await the dawn…..“ being confident from our faith that God watches over us and guards us with his all powerful love… not fearing the terror of the night … commending our spirit into His hands…  asking the Lord to watch over us as we sleep, to grant us a peaceful night.” These are powerful prayers that assist us thru the night.. that enable us to make it to the dawn. 

Yet as we arise fresh in Christ, “ancient Christian writers warn against “morning demons … yesterday’s worries and grievances returning to poison the new day.” I can often find myself wrestling with these demons as I rise to a new day. My mind is still groggy and I find myself under attack….”yesterday’s worries trying to poison the new day”. Often they are vague and not even within my life experience… something from a dream or a news report from years ago or a failure from my past that has been dealt with. Yet some of the worries are real and formidable.  If I’m not careful, they can latch on to me like a crab or leach.

Lately I’ve been asking my wife to pray over me for these “morning demons”; asking the Holy Spirit to help me, to cast out any evil that is sneaking around. This has really helped. Getting to early mass and taking prayer is very helpful. I may have only been up for a few hours and yet I can feel exhausted from the battle. I can’t be passive.

Diving into the word of the scriptures helps get me on the right track. The truth does set us free. “The favors of the Lord are not exhausted, his mercies are not spent; they are renewed each morning, so great is his faithfulness.” (Lam. 3:22-23) Yes, it’s a new day… fresh hope, the Lord is with us. God has plans for this new day. The powerful words of Jeremiah…. “For I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me; when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jer. 29:11-13)

We’re in a spiritual battle and we need to be ready. It’s important to get off on the right foot each morning. It’s important to offer fitting praise to our God, to evangelize our self with the truth. When we do this we’re off to having a great day…a day of loving and serving our great God and loving our neighbors…. embracing a future full of hope. And that is very good news.