Oakwood Church Fresh Start Women's Devotional Encouragement for Today Hartland Delafield

What’s Your Homepage?
By Lexi Cole

“In the morning, Lord, You hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before You and wait expectantly.”
Psalm 5:3

I did something horrible. I put Facebook as the homepage for my Internet browser. Now, every time I open the Internet, the first thing I see is that tempting Facebook log-in in the upper right-hand corner. This is horrible because most of the time, I’m opening the Internet with the intention of going somewhere other than Facebook - - normally homework-related. And instead, I end up on Facebook. What I set my homepage to is important because it’s the first thing I see, it begins “my Internet time.” There is a very simple solution to a problem like this: Change your homepage to something worthwhile, something beneficial, something un-distracting.

In the same way, don’t we often begin our mornings with a loud alarm telling us to race out of bed and start a very busy day? Just like our homepage is the first thing we see when we open the Internet, what do we start our day with? I grew up singing a simple children’s song that goes, “Good morning, God. This is Your day. I am Your child. Show me Your way.” (1) What if this was our mentality? What if the homepage of our daily life reflected on His faithfulness, mercy and presence? Would we live drastically different lives - - would our attitudes and heart conditions be totally different - - if we started with God?

This shift of beginning our day with God looks different for different people. For some, it’s devotionals or quiet time with God in His Scriptures right away. Others spend time in prayer talking to God. Some are silent and listen to God’s Spirit speak to their hearts. Others worship God through His Creation. Even singing that simple children’s song is a great way to start the day. For me, I’ve been intentional about starting my day with “Lead me, Holy Spirit, to do Your work today.”

As Christians, I think it’s easy for us to get into a rut and a routine. Maybe the solution is something as simple as starting our day with Him. Just as we choose what our homepage is on our Internet browser, we choose how we start our day; we choose the first thing we see. I did realize having Facebook as my homepage probably wasn’t the best idea…and trying to resist that log-in button every time I opened a new tab was too hard. So I can proudly say…I changed my homepage.

In the same way, my homepage is a reminder that how we start our day makes a difference. So the question remains: What’s your homepage?

GOING DEEPER:
1. In terms of your daily life, what has your current “homepage” been? What should you change it to? Actively commit to doing that this week.

FURTHER READING:
Psalm 118:24; Philippians 4:4; Psalm 28:7

(1) "Good Morning, God” by Lee Bristol, Jr.

Lexi is an Elementary Education major at Bethel University. The last two summers, she’s been the Children’s Ministries intern at Oakwood.