As I maneuver my life through all the activities that I am involved with during the summer schedule, with almost all routines going out the window, I need to remind myself repeatedly that certain things must get done every day, no matter how busy I am and chaotic my life has become.

When I was growing up on the dairy and then started farming full-time with my Dad, we never missed milking the cows. We never thought of not milking the cows; it never even entered our heads. We never discussed, maybe just this once, we could skip milking the cows; it never happened; we always milked the cows. Our cows were our life, our income; that is what we did; that is who we were, dairy farmers.

I am a disciple of Jesus Christ; He is my Savior, my God, and my Lord.

John 8:31 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;

Psalms 1:2-3
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.

I read the Bible almost every day. Some days I don’t read the entire scheduled number of chapters in my goal, but I read something. Almost every day I either memorize scripture or review verses I have already memorized. On some super busy days, I will bring verses up in my mind and review them with my head on the pillow, and by the way, that is a great way to fall asleep. I almost always spend some time with the Lord in prayer every day. My goal is to pray when I am doing nothing else so I can focus and give the Lord my complete self and attention, but sometimes I pray fervently while riding a bicycle, while driving, while I am fishing, or while working on my car, but I try to pray every day. I almost always spend a few minutes reviewing the day and thanking God for leading me, protecting me, blessing me, and using me for His glory. I also try and remember all sins I have committed that day and confess those to the Lord and repent asking for His strength so that I never do them again. In the morning, I almost always pray my prayer of commitment asking for His strength and wisdom for the day that He has planned for me while I am getting out of bed and getting dressed. That morning prayer of commitment is the key to keeping all the others.

People regularly call my daily commitments legalism, things I do because I have to, thoughtless obligations that lose their power or value by shear repetition.

We all are people who easily get entangled in the world, who are very prone to following the desires of our flesh instead of the promptings of the Spirit, and often can’t tell the difference, and are influenced by the lies of demons who are all around us.

The commitments that I make in the morning are what keep me faithful and fully devoted to my Lord.

You probably noticed that I put the word “almost” in regularly. That is because, unlike milking the cows, I do occasionally, though rarely, miss a day on part or all of these commitments. I haven’t lost my salvation, I don’t consider myself a loser, and I don’t beat myself up. I do confess and repent and move on.