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By The Reverend Dr. Katie Snipes Lancaster

Do you pray in the morning? Maybe it’s easier to pray at night: the burdens of the day build up and almost urge us to pray. But by morning, rested and recharged, there’s a different song on our heart—one of hope for what might unfold.

I love these ancient words from scripture: Weeping may stay all night, but by morning, joy! —Psalm 30. With a full night’s rest—even with a life full of every kind of burden—in the morning joy can emerge from the stress or sorrow of everyday life. And even if you aren’t getting full night’s sleep—because you are up at all hours of the night with worry or are up all night with a tiny baby—there is something holy and good about the sunrise: the darkness is defeated nothing can silence the hope morning brings.

I wonder what would happen (for us and for our children) if we prayed in the morning: over a cup of coffee, steam rising up and reminding us of the simplest gratitudes or over breakfast with bread or fruit as a reminder of God’s generous abundance or before we even set foot on the floor in the morning, our bed as a symbol of God’s call to rest, stop, rejuvenate, and re-create.