How do you start each day? Right now, my morning routine is all off-kilter. It's summertime, everyone is home, and if I'm honest, I'm counting the days until school starts. I love having my family home with me, but trying to work from home with a full house can be quite stressful. We've taken a lot of trips this summer, and have been very blessed to be able to do so. Those trips have helped Sacha and me keep the kids busy, and filled with child-like wonder. These off days at home, however, have been less than pleasant. Constant travel and days where the high temperatures keep us from being able to play outside have given way to bad attitudes- including my own. How do I keep my heart in the right 'frame of mind' when there are constant mini-explosions and meltdowns all around me?

I start the day off on the right foot- with a hot cup of coffee, and time spent in God's Word, before anyone else's feet hit the floors in my home each morning. I'm not grounded if I'm not rooted in God's Word. The past couple of years have been hard on me and would have been difficult to survive without God's constant presence in my life. I have a favorite 365 devotional- Revealing Jesus, by Darlene Zschech, and each morning, I take 10 minutes to read the daily devotion, meditate on the provided scripture, and spend some time in prayer. Some days, my only conversations with God happen in those early morning moments of quiet, so I take them for all they're worth. This is when I have a joy-filled heart, a right attitude, and clear head. Things start to become a bit foggy after 7 am most days.

I never know what each day with this crazy bunch will bring- but they're my crazy bunch... God's greatest gift to me, and the joy(s) of my heart.

Why bother doing this each morning if I know calamity will set in soon after the day really gets going? It's not a bother- it's a necessity. I need this time with God- to put my hand in His hand, even if just to say, 'I trust in You, and I'm ready to go wherever You're going to lead me today.'

In a world, so saturated with fear, anxiety, hate, discrimination, and selfishness, there is hope. The light of Christ is always shining. Choose hope. Choose happiness. Choose to start your day off on the right foot and live a balanced life, keeping Jesus at the center of it all. I guarantee you'll notice a change in your attitude, and you'll look at the world in a whole new way- ready to soak in its goodness, ready to serve, ready to love.