A Catholic Sister's 3 Life-Changing Tips for Starting & Ending the Day with Jesus
What is the first and last thing you do each day?
According to a study released in July of 2023, almost 90 percent of Americans 18 and older use their smartphone within the first ten minutes of waking up.
Sister Mary Grace of the Sisters of Life says that changing this habit could change your life.
In a video from Ascension Presents entitled, “The First and Last Thing You Should Do Everyday to Grow Closer to Jesus,” Sister Mary Grace shared how she believes deepening intimacy with Christ can be achieved through decreasing connection to one’s phone.
She spoke about a time when many young girls were on a discernment retreat with the Sisters of Life and they were invited to indulge in a “Tech-Free Week.”
What the Sisters found was that these girls felt especially uncomfortable during the first and last hours of the day when they could not retreat to their cell phones.
After reflecting on their time away from their phones, Sister Mary Grace said that these girls eventually came to realize that these moments “became the greatest time of intimacy with God.”
Now realizing that the first and last hours of the day are times of “peak vulnerability” and a “prime time for prayer,”
Sister Mary Grace devised three tips for deepening intimacy with Christ in these hours:
1) Keep it social media-free.
While this may be a great challenge for some, Sister Mary Grace believes that instead of preoccupying ourselves with social media, we can preoccupy ourselves with truth.
The truth of who God is, who we are, and what we are made for are greater revealed while interacting wholeheartedly with God rather than with social media.
2) Start and end your day with surrender.
“The enemy is defenseless against a humble and confident heart that surrenders its life to Jesus,” Sister Mary Grace says.
When you make an act of surrender, simply telling Jesus what it is you give to Him (fears, worries, joys), you place your confidence in Jesus alone. This is one of the best ways to calm the mind in the beginning and ending hours of the day.
3) Choose your vocation.
Sister Mary Grace shares the story of a friend who was a young mother who felt like the first moment of her day greatly influenced how the rest of her day played out.
She shared that the mother began to no longer take her vocation for granted and prayed the moment she woke up:
“God I choose to be a mom today. I chose to be a loving wife. I choose to love."
This greatly changed her friend’s life as she was no longer trying to be a perfect mom, but rather, loving perfectly as the mom that she already was.
Ultimately, Sister Mary Grace shared that, “Jesus is not expecting the perfect prayer time, He’s expecting you.”
So, in the beginning and closing hours of the day, rather than trying to craft the perfect prayer, instead start by pushing the smartphone aside and trying these three tips!