A Great While Before Day

And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.

Three details, and every one of them costs something. In the morning. A great while before day. A solitary place.

Jesus was not a morning person by temperament — He was a man with a purpose. The only way to get time nobody else has claimed is to take it before the day begins claiming things. By sunrise, the day belongs to other people.

Whatever touches your mind first sets the tone for everything after it. If the first voice you hear is a screen, then before you have said a word to God you have already taken on other people's urgency, other people's opinions, and other people's lives measured against yours.

You do not need an hour. You need to be first in line. Ten minutes before the house wakes, in a place where nobody can reach you, is enough to begin — and it changes the shape of everything that follows.