10. Iron clothes: 11%
9. Exercise: 22% (split evenly among men and women)
8. Watch television: 30%
7. Read newspaper: 35%
6. Kiss spouse-partner: 49% (a heartwarming 83% for couples married five years or less; 56% for couples married 10 years or more)
5. Make breakfast: 50%
4. Make bed: 53% (71% of women versus 32% of men)
3. Drink coffee: 53%
2. Listen to the radio: 55%
1. Personal hygiene (brushing teeth, washing face, taking a shower): 84%
Children of God should observe that there are some important things missing from this list. Not a single word is mentioned about prayer or Bible reading. Ironing clothes certainly isn't more important than spending time communing with one's Maker (and neither is anything else on the list). Since I do not know how the survey was administered, I cannot state the following with certainty, but it would appear that no more than 10% of Americans pray or study the Scriptures in the morning (since neither of those activities made it into the top ten). In truth, it might be a much lower figure than that. This is tragic, especially in our country where over 80% claim to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and where over 60% believe the Bible is the literal, inspired word of God (according to a Gallup poll). Those who genuinely affirm these beliefs should seemingly show more interest in prayer and Bible reading.
Dear friends, how do you start your day? That's a valid question for all Christians to consider. Is there prayer and Bible reading at the beginning of your daily routine? If not, are these important activities found later in your daily routine? Those who believe in God and love Him should naturally be drawn to His word and yearn to speak with Him regularly. There is power in the word of God and in prayer. And, for many folks, getting up a little earlier to spend time with the Lord is the best time to do such--before one gets busy tending to other matters or gets too tired (as often happens late in the day).
David declared in Psalm 5:3 - "My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up." David also said - "Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice." In the quiet of the morning we can begin our day by getting our thinking set on those things that are above (cf. Col. 3:1,2). We can equip ourselves just as our Lord did when He met Satan in the wilderness and resisted temptation by using the word of God (cf. Matt. 4:1-11). We will be better equipped to handle the difficulties and frustrations of daily life when we make it a habit to begin our day with the Lord. Let us redeem the time and seek first God's kingdom daily (cf. Eph. 5:16; Matt. 6:33)!