Are you a morning person?
I’ve always been a morning person. When I was a student at Hope College, I tried so hard to not be a morning person… because what college student is a morning person, right? I tried to pull all-nighters, and I tried to sleep in until noon. I never succeeded at it either—I could never stay up past 2 am, and I rarely slept past 10:30 in the morning. I’m definitely a morning person. Or so I thought until I married my husband.
Photo Credit: Chris Betcher
For the first few months of our marriage Leon greeted me with a “Good morning!” the moment my alarm went off. Hmm… Give me a few minutes to wake up before you talk to me, please! Maybe I wasn’t a morning person after all. Or maybe I’m a morning person after I’ve woken up a little. :)
Last autumn I decided I needed to become a better morning person. It hasn’t been easy, and it’s been a process. I’ve had a few hiccups (going on home assignment and having a baby will do that to a person).
It helped that I signed up for the Hello Mornings Challenge. The purpose of the challenge to challenge women to get up for their children and not to them. The focus is on meeting with the Lord first to start off my day.
I’ll admit that it’s taken me about a year to finally get in the groove of waking up early and making the most of my morning. I think having a baby who rises early helps. I’ve also learned through the last 3 challenges I’ve done that starting my day before my husband and son rise is the best way to start my day. Lord help me when I can’t get my quiet time in! Things go much smoother when I can get up and go before the Throne before my son gets up. :)
Of course, to become a morning person, I need to get up with enough hours in the morning to make it worth it. How do I do that? I thought I’d just get myself up earlier every day until I reached 6:00 (my goal). Yeah, that didn’t work. So I went cold turkey and started getting up at 6 am, although I don’t always succeed at that! After I sort of mastered getting up early, I began working more intently on spending time with God, planning my day and exercising. I’m still working on those last two. Baby steps, right? Most mornings, I need lots of grace to get me through. :)
I also have to remember that getting up early is more about consistently going to the Father every day so He can give me what I need and use me for His will.
By no means am I perfect, and I’m not trying to brag on how I do my mornings. I fail at getting out of bed at times. I also fail at making the most of my mornings. At least I’m trying! And the Lord is really using this challenge to grow me in this area of my life.
I’ve decided to start a series on how I’ve become a morning person. I plan on writing a few more posts to share with you about how I make the most of my mornings.
Will you join me in this journey?
Hopped over from Inspired to Action. This is my first time with Hello Mornings, but I have been getting up early for quiet time for a few years. This is a great post…I look forward to more in this series.
Mary
http://memyselfandmercy.blogspot.com
Thanks for stopping by Mary! I’ve been getting up early for my quiet time for a few years, too. But there are still days when I struggle! Hope Hello Mornings blesses you just as much as it has me! :)
I think I’m a morning person…after I wake up a bit! :) But, I seem to get my best blogging done very early when no one else is up yet. Cute post! :)
Yep, me, too :) I’m a morning person once I wake up! LOL funny how that works!
uuurrrrgh…. this is a tough one! mornings are hard for me. good for you!!
It’s not always easy for me. I need a lot of grace to crawl out of bed most days!