For those of us wanting to fight for those in Poverty, we need to commit to the warrior lifestyle. We must be disciplined and focused on constant and never-ending growth. A warrior submits to his or her sovereign. This starts from the moment you arise. While we often have a full scheduled calendar with expectations and hopes to fulfill specific strategies, we must acknowledge that we really have no idea what is coming our way.
This uncertainty is part of what makes this sort of effort fun and exciting.
I remember showing up at work in Spokane, Washington where our Crisis Shelter for Women and Children was in a very rough neighborhood. Like most days, I was there fairly early in the morning. In the early days of the work, our smoking area was in a select section of the parking lot. I had expected to see the usual group of ladies taking in their first smokes of the day. This was my first opportunity to greet them and be friendly. But one morning, there was a camel. No, that is not a typo. There was a real flesh and blood camel in the smoking area.
At first, I thought that maybe I was seeing things. Someone had hinted that week that I was working too hard, and in that moment, I felt that they might just be right. However, I walked over, and there was a guy leading the camel. Before I got close, the handler explained to me that he was the owner of the new food truck park that was coming in just down the street. The camel was going to be a publicity stunt to get people to visit the food trucks.
Now that is mild. There will be challenges and difficulties of all sorts of shapes and sizes that you will have to deal with as a poverty warrior, so you must prepare daily to have the character to handle the challenges. The morning ritual is a staple among the warrior class among nearly every culture. What does your morning ritual look like?
I start my morning about three hours before I need to be ready for the day. My first action is drinking sixteen ounces of water. This will begin to flush out my system. Additionally, the hours sleeping represent the longest part of my day that I have gone without liquids. I replenish my body and organs. My own practice is to also take a select curated course of vitamins.
From there, after a practice that I will describe at a later time, I write out my personal life vow. A warrior takes vows very seriously. In my journal, I stack up my memorial stones recalling key moments of my life. I calculate how many days I have lived since those pivotal events. I then commit myself to make the most of the day before me.
I conduct a short journaling exercise including giving thanks for a minimum of five things that God has given me. I then begin praying. Every day I will pray for a minimum of 100 names from my little black book. Prayer notecards cover a list of people and things that I am committed to praying for daily. Finally, I meditate on select scripture in the silence of light music.
Now I am ready to dive into Scripture reading. I will typically journal on one verse every day and always read Psalms 19, so that I never forget that David fell because he forgot to turn from sin. After reading, I prayerfully close my Bible and move on to my daily workout.
The daily workout is a basic sustaining workout with some strength, stretching, and endurance exercises. From there, I read the local paper and other professional writings before connecting with my wife with a cup of coffee in hand.
Depending on the day, there are other practices that come into play, but every day I have done something to launch growth spiritually, mentally, physically, and socially.
