Alisa Jeffus 4/27/23 Alisa Jeffus 4/27/23

Creating Your Perfect Morning Routine

Move your mornings from chaotic to chill with these simple, intentional suggestions.

I recently shared a little sneak peek into my morning routine on Instagram. I’ve heard from many friends that mornings are hard and chaotic, especially as a mother! So today, I want to share my typical morning routine and some tips to perfect a morning routine that works for you! This is not a one-size-fits-all type of thing, so take what you need, use it for yourself, and disregard the rest!

A Sneak Peak Into My Morning Routine

Since I work outside the home Monday - Friday, I like to have my days look similar. Weekends are much more relaxed, though I try to accomplish most of the same tasks on a different timeline. So here’s what a typical Monday - Friday morning looks like for me:

5:40 am - my alarm goes off. It is charging across the room, so I have to get up to turn it off. I’ve committed not to hit the snooze button, so I start my day on time. I was a chronic snoozer until very recently, but this switch has been instrumental in changing my mornings for the better.

5:41 am - I go to the kitchen to take my pre-workout. This helps wake me up and energizes me for my morning workout. I’ve been using and loving this one from Rootz Nutrition. Half of a scoop is all I need to start my day.

5:45 am - I head back to my room to read my Bible and pray. I’m a huge advocate for leaving my phone plugged in across the room, so I take out a physical copy of my Bible and have a printed piece of paper that lists my Bible reading plan (I use the Bible Project’s). All of the Bible apps can be super helpful, but there’s also evidence that waiting to pick up your phone in the morning can significantly reduce stress and anxiety.

6:30 am - I get up, put on my workout clothes, make my bed, and pull up my workout for the day. I love using Nourish Move Love’s Youtube videos, but I’ve also worked through Rachael Good Eat’s ebook Good Sweat At Home. This personally works for me and my schedule right now, though, in the future, I would love to attend a gym or class. I primarily strength train, so I keep a yoga mat, weights, towels, and resistance bands in my room.

7 am - if I’m lucky, my kids are still sleeping, so I can get dressed and ready for the day. However, they often get up, sit in bed with me, or read and play while I work out.

7:15 am - If I’m on breakfast duty for the day, I’ll pull together something easy, like oatmeal with fruit and peanut butter or yogurt and granola.

7:30 am - we eat breakfast together at the table. I drink my vitamins, and the girls take theirs as well. I love AG1 - it’s packed with probiotics and all the vitamins I need in a delicious drink. The girls have been using Hiya - both their multivitamin and their probiotics, as well as elderberry gummies (the preschool sickness is real and we want to be feeling our best! Also, I have all of these things on autoship so they come right to me every month!)

7:45 am - we catch up on any last minute getting ready items like brushing teeth, getting shoes on, brushing hair, etc, and pack our bags and lunch boxes (prepped the night before) to get ready to head out for the day.

8/8:15 am - we’re in the car and ready for school drop-off and work!

How to Make Your Morning Routine Work For You

Everyone’s morning routine will look different. What works for me may or may not work for you in your current life stage or for your personality and preferences. I hope my schedule inspires you to try different things out, find what works for you, and maybe wake up a bit earlier to start your day on the right foot.

This requires intentionality, trying and failing, and trying again. Maybe even some accountability! If starting your day with scripture and prayer, or in an unhurried and stress-free way is of value to you, then take the time to test out and create the morning routine that fills you up.

Ideas to Create Your Morning Routine

I recently talked to my therapist about morning routines, and here are a few things she suggested. This list is not a requirement to do all the things but simply a gentle encouragement to find what works for you.

Avoid looking at your phone or even checking the time on your phone. Simply looking at it can easily trigger the need to check notifications. Blue light and notifications from social media, news, and politics can cause stress and irritability.

Make the first thing you do something fun. Looking forward to this event can make you happy and increase your motivation to wake up.
Make your bed. This can contribute to success and is positively correlated with better sleep, mood, and confidence.
Drink water first. This increases cognitive function and compats fatigue. Chronic dehydration can cause chronic anxiety and depression.
Drink coffee after you’ve eaten some food. Cortisol (the stress hormone) increases when you drink coffee on an empty stomach.
Take a walk, or at least get ten minutes of exposure to morning light. This helps regulate our ciradian rhythm.
Wake up an hour before you’re needed. I LOVED this advice! As a mom or a caretaker, this is especially important to pour into yourself before you pour in to others.
Write in a journal. Use this as an opportunity to check in with yourself — how you’re feeling, processing events and emotions, writing down prayers.
Spend fifteen minutes in meditation.
Read the Bible.
Practice gratitude (This can also be done at night).
Make a plan or write a to-do list, but don’t write something you can’t accomplish — it’s better to underestimate yourself than overfill your plate.

Perfecting Your Morning Routine

My morning routine is something that I’m continually working on and adjusting. I honestly don’t know if I’ll ever arrive at that “perfect” routine because schedules change, sickness derails things, and life happens. But honestly, the effort is worth it. If I get to all of my morning items at least two to three times a week, I feel more at peace and less anxious. I feel grounded and ready for my day.

If that’s something you’re struggling with, I hope this serves as an encouragement to just take one small step in the direction of creating your morning routine. Feeling more at peace is worth it. Filling your cup is worth it. Sacrificing less important things for the sake of maintaining your joy is worth it.

Alisa Jeffus 4/20/23 Alisa Jeffus 4/20/23

What is Spiritual Formation and Why Does It Matter?

Valerie writes about what spiritual formation is, why it’s important, and shares some resources to get started.

Christian spiritual formation is defined as the process of being conformed to the image of Jesus for God’s glory and for the sake of others (2 Corinthians 3:17-18). The Holy Spirit is our teacher and helper who guides us to be formed into a person who reflects God to the world in word and deed. As children of God grow in His likeness and character, others can receive the graces of God and have the opportunity to know God, in part, by the actions, words, and life of His children.

As we grow in spiritual maturity, we grow into persons of love who are becoming more like Jesus. Some character identifiers would be compassion, love of God and others, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, and being quick to listen and slow to anger. It is important to note that the goal is not just outward behavior but rather, inner change that results in an outward change. As a Christian, becoming like Christ always includes abiding and submission. It is God who works in us as we place ourselves under His loving care and direction.

There are many pastors and Christian leaders who would agree that Christ-likeness has been on a decline in the western Church in the past several decades. The number of comfortable, consumeristic, and unchanged professed Christians seems to be on the rise. You may even find yourself relating to those who go to church but whose lives are little different than non-Christians around you. There can be a host of reasons that a Christian is not showing signs of growth and change. Here I will briefly list a few roadblocks and then focus on solutions.

Road Blocks to Spiritual Growth

Roadblocks to spiritual growth can be varied but here are a few that have been common to my experience for me and others I know personally.

Lack of desire or apathy
A lack of intentionality in spiritual matters
Need for healing of past hurts- in and/or outside of the Church
A distracted or noisy life
Individualism
A focus on outward behavior without inward change
Pride

Solutions

At Intentionally Ordinary, we are big on committing to small steps in the right direction which over time can make a big impact. Here are some solutions to the above roadblocks. The solutions are more in quantity than the roadblocks! So many options to help. Again, these are tips that have helped me or others I know personally.

Pray for desire! Look up verses about desiring God and transformation (John 4:13-14, Isaiah 26:9, Psalm 73:25, 42:2, 143:8 are a few).
Find friends or a community that is excited about being disciples of Christ.
Read books about spiritual formation or books about the lives of those who are or have lived a Jesus-filled life.
Make intentional time in your life for things that are important to your growth. This could mean establishing a routine of prayer, Bible reading/study, or worship. This might mean committing to joining a discipleship group, prayer meeting, or regular church attendance. This could mean incorporating spiritual disciplines into your regular routine.
Seek out healing from a pastor, soul friend, or Spiritual Director. Pray for God to bring healing in your life.
Choose to remove or decrease unhealthy distractions in your life: social media, online games, shopping, and news feeds. Replace distractions with time to spend with Jesus through prayers, reading/study, worship, service to others, time in Christian community, or other disciplines.
Admit and confess those areas of your life controlled by individualism. How much of your life is informed by the word of God vs culture and your own thoughts/opinions? Choose to listen to the teachings of Jesus with the intent of doing them. Cultivate a heart and mind of submission to the way of Jesus.
Identify and confess areas of your life that are inconsistent. Do you act one way with one group of people and differently with another group? Do you try hard to be like Jesus on the outside while feeling less than Jesus on the inside? Seek to live by the strength of the Holy Spirit instead of your own strength.
Seek out a healthy community of Believers and engage with them. One of the best pieces of advice that have been life-changing for me is to intentionally be in relationships with those older and wiser AND with those who are younger in age and faith. We should always be being poured into while we are pouring out to others.
Do regular pride checks. Learn to identify areas of pride in yourself. Seek to be humble in heart, mind, and soul. Choose to operate in the areas that God has gifted you in.
When you learn ways to grow in your relationship with God and ways to grow in spiritual formation — do them! Let what you learn go from your head to your heart.
Seek God and seek God some more! He IS the solution!

Books on Spiritual Formation

If you’d really like to dive in, below is a list of books that can help you understand more about spiritual formation and your part in it.

Further Resources

We’ve created a few guides to help you along in your spiritual formation journey! Check out our Retreat Guide if you’d like to take that step and set aside intentional time with God or our Habit Formation Guide if you want to start developing regular rhythms of connecting with God in your everyday life.

My hope is that you will start to take steps in the direction of spiritual formation. Remember it is God and the Holy Spirit that does the work as we submit and seek to be formed by Him, into His likeness in character, for our sake and the sake of the world!

Enjoying the journey together!

Valerie