First Things First Part 1

July 28, 2026

What is the first thing you do in the morning when your feet touch the floor?

Not the first task on your list. Not the first chore waiting in the kitchen or answering the first text on your phone. I mean the real first thing—the first movement of your heart, the overriding aim in your mind, the first priority that begins arranging your day before you have even named it. And taking this line of questioning beyond one given morning, what are the priorities of your life— those known and those yet to be known….

Welcome to this week’s Daily Reflections on “First Things First.”

As soon as my feet hit the floor this morning there were things to be done. It is probably the same with you. Most of us have a morning rhythm that works. We know the drill. We rise, we begin, and almost instinctively we take up the old maxim: “First things first.”

After one thing is completed, the next becomes the first. And so, the day unfolds—one action, one responsibility, one movement at a time. But when the sequence is interrupted, even by something good, we can feel thrown off course.

That happened to me one morning this week. I awakened with my plans already set, moving inwardly toward the routine I expected to follow. Then, unexpectedly, someone knocked on the door and stayed awhile. I loved the visit. I was glad to see them. But somewhere in the back of my mind, I was aware that my usual beginning had been delayed. I was not quite mentally prepared for company because I had already assigned the morning for something else.

After they left, I returned to my routine and caught up. But honestly, I had to deal consciously with the irregular start of my day and how it affected everything that followed. The disruption was not dramatic, but it revealed something. It dawned on me that there must be a reason—a deeply human reason—why most of us need to take things one by one, in some order of importance.

“First things first” is not a new idea. The method was documented in England as early as 1545. The exact adage we know today was formally recorded in The Christian Observer in London in 1830, where it was called a “sound common-sense maxim” often heard among wise people. In the 1920s, it appeared in literature, including H. G. Wells’s The Secret Places of the Heart. In the 1930s, the phrase became associated with Alcoholics Anonymous, where it remains one of the most frequently quoted slogans. The concept appears across cultures and languages because, in the human condition, priority matters.

In a practical sense, we understand this. In the morning, we usually ready our bodies before we feed them. We wash, dress, prepare, gather what is needed, and move toward the world—whether by car, computer, appointment, or obligation. Every stage has its duties, and most of them are done in order. For the spiritually inclined, preparing for the day also includes spiritual practice: prayer, meditation, silence, reading, gratitude, or simply being present before fully stepping into life's demands.

Taking first things first may seem like nothing more than an organizational skill. But if we look more deeply, everything we do has roots. Every action is connected to some deeper motivation in our psyche and soul. What we place first, what we postpone, what we protect, what we avoid, what we hurry toward, and what we neglect—these are not random choices. They reveal an inner order.

So, the question becomes more than, “What should I do first today?”

The deeper question is, “What part of me is deciding what comes first?”

Is it fear? Duty? Love? Anxiety? Habit? Ego? Gratitude? Control? Faith? Desire? Compassion? The need to be useful? The need to be safe? The longing to be close to God? Is the decider the ego or the soul?

We may believe we are simply moving through a schedule, but the schedule is also moving through us, revealing the hidden priorities by which we live. Before the calendar fills, before the phone rings, before the day makes its claims upon us, something within us has already chosen what matters most.

This week, we will reflect on “First Things First.”

And perhaps we will discover that the first thing is not always the first task.

Spiritual Practice

List your spiritual priorities. List your spiritual activities at the start of your day. Do they have a connection?

Inquiry

What are your priorities in order of importance? See how well they match your behavior. 

Prayer

Dear God, 

Help me see the hidden things—the priorities I have that do not align with my ideal.

Amen