Mornings: Wrap-up

So now that we all love mornings...

Wait, wait, that's somebody else. 

But now that we know why we're getting up and what we're doing when we're up how's it working out? 

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Mornings are still not my thing; they probably won't ever be. But they serve a valuable purpose in my life and set the tone for my whole day. I know from experience that I struggle much more with my day when I get up late (as in with the boys) instead of being up before them and getting myself fed first. Sometimes it's unavoidable but I don't ever want it to be a habit. I would be robbing myself and my family of the best that I can give them. 

Businessmen, teachers, professors, artists all get up for their work. They make a point to be ready for the day instead of just letting it happen to them. My job is just as important to these people in my home as a teacher's job is to her students. When I am focused on God's vision for my work I am motivated to work and encouraged to learn. But I have to keep my eyes on God and I need that morning time to do that. 

And let's face it- there are more fun things to do than clean and do laundry (although both are necessary). I want to read with the boys, play outside, bake bread, play the piano, teach Micah his letters, snuggle Kevin before he gets any bigger.  I don't want to waste valuable daytime doing things I could have already done. 

So how can your mornings help you? Challenge yourself. Don't just trudge through your day; find ways to help yourself do it better. 

Make your mornings work for you. 
Make your lunchtime work for you.
Make your playtime work for you. 
God has given you this life. Give it back to Him. 
Grow and learn. 
Serve your family.
Develop your talents. 
Love your husband. 
Teach your children. 

Live with purpose. Start your day with purpose. 

Mornings: Game Plan

Nothing sounds like a good idea in the morning. So I can't wait to come up with my plan then. The plan would involve rolling back over and closing my eyes. Nothing feels better than going back to sleep in the morning. Unless it's chocolate. That might be a tie. 

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1. So first I make myself get out of bed! Then I go fix my hair and put on some makeup. For whatever reason it's one of my least favorite things to do and that gets it out of the way at the beginning. It also gives me a good chance to realize that I'm alive!  That seems to be a crucial step in getting anything accomplished. 

2. The second thing I do is my Bible study. It's the most necessary part of the day and I don't want to miss it. (I'd do it first but most of the time I'd sleep through it. That seems unproductive.) The goal is to get my reading finished before the boys get up. But if not, they play or snuggle while I read. 

If I have "free" time when the boys are sleeping I'm bad for wasting it because I can't decide what to do. There are so many things I would like to do that I can't pick one. So the next part gets tricky for me; therefore, I have a plan. 

3. If I've gotten up early enough (and it's not the weekend or Monday) then I have a few minutes to read a book that I'm working through (remember that reading program?) or write for a bit. I actually really like snatching a few minutes here and there for my writing. It ends up being much more edited this way. 

See? Mornings= read and writing. Occasionally I'll sit down at the keyboard to go over a song but not usually. I save that for quiet time in the afternoons. 

4. Next I start working! There's something about knowing I'm ahead for my day that I love! This includes starting laundry, unloading the dishwasher, opening curtains, making the bed, etc. And if it's Monday and I'm cleaning I get started as quickly as possible and see how much can be done before the boys wake up. I like to challenge myself. Try it. But challenge yourself. Not me. 

By this point the boys are up and we are off to breakfast and  playing outside! Micah says, "I go out there" or "walk" first thing every morning. I always tell him we have to eat breakfast first. Love my breakfast! He really does too. 

There's my game plan. Without it I decide that I have nothing to do and there is not any reason for me to get out of bed.

What are your goals for the morning? 

Mornings: Refocus

I used to think my problem was only that I wasn't a morning person. I would love to get up about ten in the morning and not go to bed until around two. There are very few careers that actually works with and homemaking/mothering is certainly not one of them. (Unless, of course, you don't teach your children to go to bed or you let them run around on their own for hours, but I digress.) Regardless of how focused I am on my priorities at the end of the day I lose it during the night. My first mornings thoughts aren't God's plan for my life or how I can best honor Him. 

photo courtesy of stuart miles/freedigitalphotos.net

The real problem is that I'm a sinner. My flesh is inclined to do what it wants to instead of what God wants. The most important thing for me to do each morning is to lose myself in Jesus. 

That's why my first morning point is "Refocus." Focus (again!) on what God says about life. I need remind myself of God's plan.  I have to fight my flesh every day. You do too.  None of us are exempt from the pull of the flesh and I have to fight it first thing before it takes a deep hold on my day. 

Now if I were to wake up and immediately start reading most days I would immediately be sleeping again. That would defeat the purpose. So I go fix my hair and put on some makeup first. That gives me enough time to wake up and even pray some. Then I come back to my Bible. 

I need to soak in God's will for me. Learn more about Him. Learn more about who He wants me to be. 

I want to have a real relationship with God, therefore I need to spend time with Him. I've been working on talking to Jesus constantly through my day but I need this concentrated time in the morning where I can absorb His Word and not be distracted by the commotion of life. 

Refocusing Helps

1. Have a reading plan. Doesn't matter what it is; just have one. Go through the whole Bible; we need to be learning it all. Don't just flip it open and read anywhere for your everyday Bible reading. 

You've all heard the old joke about  a man who was searching for God's will for his life. So he decided to use the proven method of flipping open his Bible and putting his finger on a phrase or verse. 

The first one he found was Matt. 27:5" And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself."

He didn't like that answer so he tried again and got "Then said Jesus unto him, Go and do thou likewise." (Luke 10:37b) 

He decided to give it one more try and found, "Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly." (John 13:27b) 

God's will in black and white, people! 

Hahahahahahahaha

Hahaha

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Ok, I won't tell jokes in my posts anymore. But I think you get the point.

2. Ask God to speak to your heart. Reading words isn't enough. The Bible is a book beyond our understanding and  yet God can reveal the truth at each person's level. 

Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.  Psalm 119:27

I am thy servant; give me understanding, that I may know thy testimonies. Psalm 119:125

3. Know the "Why." I'm coming back to this over and over in life. Why am I getting up early(ish)? Why am I disciplining my children? Why am I reading my Bible? 

-Write down why it's important for you to read your Bible every day. 

-Keep a list of things you are learning. 

-Memorize Scripture about the benefits of being in the Bible. (See Joshua 1:8 and Psalm 1:2-3 for starters.)

4. Just do it. Don't wait for it to be easy or comfortable. Don't wait until you "have time." Step out in obedience and watch God work in your life. 

Before I face my day and it's challenges, I need to be filled up with Jesus and that means emptied of me. So the first thing I do in the morning is refocus.  I need to see Jesus and line myself up with His Word. 

Let's Talk About Mornings!

I think we're going to talk about mornings for a few weeks. 

I know. I know. Me? Talk about mornings? I've lost my mind. 

But now seriously...who do you want to talk about mornings? One of those annoying people who love mornings and pop out of bed like they don't want to pull the covers over their head and go back to sleep? I didn't think so. 

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I have a love/hate relationship with mornings. I hate getting up. I hate being up early. It's not my best time of day. But I love getting a few things done before the boys are up and I love knowing that I've already gotten a head start on my work. And mornings are beautiful. I think that's why God made them that way: to help ease the transition to a new day. Even though I don't like mornings I am slowly implementing some methods to help me use them efficiently.

(And by efficiently I don't mean that I get up at 5. Kudos to people that do. But we don't go to bed early enough to get up at 5. And that just sounds miserable. Although I have had seasons in life where I have gotten up at that time I rejoice that I don't have to now!) 

Not all of these ideas work for every season. Pregnancy stage= sleep as much as possible but still get up to read my Bible. New baby stage= read at night when I'm up with the baby; sleep as much as possible. There are plenty of other examples as well. You have to adjust to what is going on in life at the moment. Life is constantly changing. 

But I'm not in any of those stages right now so I've honed my strategies a little. So far I have four topics to discuss. I may develop more or I might combine two of them. I'm not sure yet. 

1. Refocus

2. Game Plan

3. Jump Start

4. Benefits

Your rhythm will look different. Maybe you will exercise in the morning. I don't. I have before, mostly before having children. Maybe you will have breakfast with your husband. My husband doesn't eat breakfast. (Just for the note: I LOVE breakfast. I wake up hungry.) The time I get up changes every few months with the boys wake-up time and other details of life. It's the flow that I'm after. It's nice to be able to alter the rhythm to fit life as it is. A great plan only works if you can implement it. 

Flexibility is the name of the game, especially with motherhood. That's why I prefer the word "rhythm" to "schedule." Some days I get my whole morning rhythm done before my boys are awake. Sometimes I pull the boys into what I'm doing and carry on. Other times I throw it all to the wind and read books on the bean bag. 

I can always think of many more things I wish I had gotten done. I have to be able to say, "That's ok. We'll get to it later." I can't get hung up on expectations; that will cripple my ability to continue through my day.  The quote "Only God gets His to-do list done" really helps me in that area. This has been a learned skill that does not come naturally. Some people will have to push themselves to do anything instead of relaxing because they didn't do it all. We have different personalities that we are surrendering to God. 

One last thought. It's not that you do what I do. It's that you do what works for you and helps you fulfill your God-given roles. 

Are you a morning person? If not, can you tweak your mornings to help them work for you? 

Mornings

Now that baby Kevin is several months old, I've gone back to a more "normal" morning routine. I like it. And I hate it. Mornings aren't my thing. I always feel like I've been asleep only thirty minutes when my alarm goes off and if I'm dreaming I frequently can't figure out what's really going on. But if I get up I realize it's not so bad- after about fifteen minutes. :)

But that morning time is precious enough for me to fight this battle every day. Once I put in my contacts and get a glass of water, I settle down at the kitchen table to read my Bible. I don't dare sit on the couch. It's very comfortable and I'll sleep. But I usually get a good hour before Micah wakes up. Sometimes I even get my hair fixed first!

Our preacher made a statement in marriage class that really stuck with me. He said that we could try to improve one area of our life and we might succeed. But it would probably only be at the detriment of other areas that are also important. We, as humans, can only concentrate on so many things. But if our focus is to grow closer to God, He can change us for all the areas in our life that we are called to. If I focus on my marriage, I may slack off on mothering and vice versa. But if I focus on drawing close to God, He will give me wisdom for all areas of my life. That time in my Bible is so necessary for my whole life.

Set your whole heart on the Word of God! Some people like to read so many chapters every day. I would not dissuade them from the practice, but I would rather lay my soul soaking in half a dozen verses all day than I would, as it were, rinse my hands in several chapters.
Oh, to bathe in a text of Scripture and to let it be sucked up into your very soul till it saturates your heart! -Spurgeon