I always carry some mint with me (usually Eclipse) because I have, you guessed it, bad breath. I think I’m cursed with some malfunctioning alpha-beta-hi gene that’s producing the bad odor every morning; funny thing is, my nose is right above my mouth, but I don’t smell it at all! 
Anyway, this morning, I heard a sermon podcast from Pastor John Ortberg who mentioned bad breath! He started with the obvious: When we wake up in the morning, we wash our face, brush our teeth, floss, shower, put on deodorant, etc. And then he moved to the spiritual connection: Likewise, we should invite Jesus to wash clean the bad awful filth that is in our hearts and minds each morning. That’s right! Can you imagine going to work without proper hygiene in the morning every day? (I know, some of you work with people who skip all of that.) But all too many of us are too busy getting our outside presentable, that we don’t have the time to present our inside to God. Pastor Ortberg encourages us to start off the day by saying:
“God, while I’m cleaning up my body, would You clean up my mind? [...] It’s important to clean up my body, but way more important than that is my mind. There’s all kinds of thoughts going on in there––jealous or envious or prideful or fearful and anxious, greedy––so would You just kind of scrub those away, and lead me to thoughts that are noble, and hopeful, and pure? God, would You cleanse my mind?” (mppc.org 2/24/08 sermon)
So don’t skip out on proper spiritual hygiene! Yes, each morning, as you brush your teeth, invite Jesus to brush away the plaque of bitterness from your heart. As you wash that strange stuff that mysteriously accumulated in your eyes overnight, invite Jesus to wash out the anxious thoughts and worries that have mysteriously accumulated in your mind. And as you shower and put on deodorant, invite Christ to fill your day with His fragrance of Life. Your friends will be glad you started the day that way…
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