Friday, August 24, 2007

Rising Early

All this week, I have set my alarm to go off at 6:30. My goal was to get up, have a true QUIET time with the Lord, and make my husband breakfast on three of the mornings. I did good on Monday, of course, it was the first day! Tuesday I got up right when the alarm went off and had an amazing time with the Lord. Wednesday, I got up a little later. Thursday, I got up even later, because my alarm never went off. I realized that I had turned it off in the middle of the night. Last night I did the same thing, I turned off my alarm. I remember doing it last night because I was having trouble sleeping. I don't think that I got more than three hours of sleep. This morning I did get to have a nice quiet time with the Lord because I let Karis sleep longer than usual.
It is hard for me to make "rising early" a set thing right now, but I will press on and know that I cannot do it myself. I prayed today and all this week for the Lord to give me His strength. I find that my days seems sweeter and more successful when Christ is first and when my time with Him is uninterrupted and quiet. I would challenge anyone who can to rise early and spend quality time with our Savior before the cares of the world come crashing in.
I know that at different seasons in my life, a new baby coming, this will be harder and look very different, but I know that if I am already in the habit before he comes, then it will easier to get back into rising early after a few weeks or months.

6 comments:

laura said...

it is actually easier to rise early with Sam b/c i'm already up around 5am- and i know i won't get much sleep anyways before the girls are up- but it is totally by God's grace that I had the energy today to do this! keep it up girl-i know you're zonked from being pregnant- but you're right, getting into the habit before baby gets here will help a lot! i'll be praying for you during my morning nursing time- want a "wake up" call?? love you!

Courtney said...

I remember coming home from one of our youth camps (maybe 8th grade?) with the motto, "No Bible, No Breakast!" And it always stuck, yet I've never been able to do it. I just sleep my hardest in the morning, and have the hardest time waking up early. And if I do, then I'm not very alert and end up dozing off during my bible study. My best time is during Andrew's nap. I have my best bible study times then and really hear and learn from God. So, don't be too hard on yourself--just do what works best for you. God will be present anytime you seek him, no matter what time of day! Love you!!

BoldLion said...

I know that I can't get up earlier than 3:30 in the morning because that is what time I get up to get ready to go to work. My best time to read His Word is during the break time at work if I am being faithful to that instead of reading John Piper's books or other wonderful Christian book or working on my homework. Sometime, I will do Bible Study when I go out to eat. (That is my most peaceful and quite time.)
As for no children, I would be no help for the thought for you.
I will be praying for you.
I would love to have a normal schedule job and be able to read and eating His Word before going to work.
Hungry for Him Alone,
BoldLion

The Taras' said...

Its funny- for me my best times with the Lord are around 8:00 or so.

I have tried to get up at the crack of dawn before everyone else in my family and just ended up discouraged. I think for me I had set in my mind that the only acceptable time to the Lord that I could spend is first thing, bright and early.

I have learned that the best thing for me to do is to find a time that is most consistant- when I am most wide awake- before the craziness of the day starts. But for me its not before Naomi wakes up. We have our daily routine of having breakfast and while she watches her cartoons or plays quietly I do my quiet time. She knows when I am doing my quiet time that she needs to stay out of the room unless she really needs something. I also think its so good for her to visibly see me meeting with the Lord each day. It prompts her to ask me to have a quiet time with her too.

So for me its not the time of day that I stress over. I just try to make sure that my time is consitant and that my heart desires to be there...

sarah

SK said...

Hi Jeanna, Karis so so cute. I wanted to say hi and wish you the best of luck keeping on the schedule. Keep in touch

shelleykutina@hotmail.com
kutinafamily.blogspot.com

Michelle said...

I'm with you girl! I was doing good for a while, back in TX, with getting up early, before the boys, to have a QUIET time...but then the chaos of MD came into play, and I am just now starting back on that course of early mornings. Reading "Shopping for Time" is helping inspire me too! And thankfully, Rob is an early riser so he is pretty good about helping me get up if I turn off my alarm.

Well, I miss you and hope to talk soon! Love you!