Prima Verbe - First Word

Prima Verbe - First Word.

What are the first words you speak out loud each day?

If you sleep with someone, I imagine it would be different. But I sleep alone. Well, my roommates are usually asleep when I wake up, so I basically sleep alone. When I wake up, I take a shower, get dressed, go to breakfast, and talk to people there. This makes my first words something like, "Good morning." And if I skipped the shower, the tired words would be an octave lower than normal, my eyes would lazily be half-open, and saying, "Good morning," would become an empty automatic.

But I believe that the first words we speak each day wear some kind of power. They may not, but they might. If anything, they set the mood for the first hour of our day, which tailors the mood for our whole day.

Are your first words, "Ugh," "Aaaahh," "Shoot!" or even something worse, depending on how late you stayed up the night before? How long does it take to strip this attitude and dress yourself with an attitude more fitting to loving your friends and family?

My first words are paramount in my attitude. A temptation for me is to use my words to rip and tear others in order to somehow, sneakily, lift myself up; to uselessly, improperly sew up my insecurities. This passive aggression is deadly and wears holes in my relationships, and I want so badly to instead use my tongue and the words that it speaks to touch others, to lift them up, dust them off if need be, and to make them feel warm and happy, cared about and welcomed... That all our issues are extra small compared to God, who constantly irons us out.

I have begun making my first words something more profound and thought-out. Because of my mental state for the first few minutes of each morning, with effort I gather myself to mumble a few words: "Thank you, God." Tucked in beneath those words is a heart giving its day to God, as I realize that it's only because of his design that I'm here, alive and well, with the ability to influence others. This often happens when I'm in the shower or getting dressed. I speak these first words, and God is meanwhile washing me clean and dressing me in his righteousness, the righteousness he died to give us. He was clothed with humanity so we could don holiness. A set of bright white clothes that causes its wearer to radiate with glory and sing with purity.

And then it's a good morning indeed.