On a normal day with a normal routine my husband gets up around 5am and gets ready for work. He is a high school theatre teacher. Typically he leaves the house around 5:50am or 6am and returns home around 5:20pm. For my typical day I was dragging myself out of my bed at 6am or 7am depending on if I had to go to work that day. I was cranky. I had low patience. I had no quiet time to myself to wake up because by that time my children's voices were the first thing that I heard. And was I finding myself excited to hear their sweet little voices? No! I was annoyed and cranky and I just wanted them to BE QUIET! I wanted them to not ask me to do anything. I wanted to just be alone. This sets the tone for the entire day. Then I would be trying to get work done in the morning, getting my workout done and by that time it was already lunch time and I hadn't really paid much attention to my son. So I play with my son a little in the afternoon and then it's time to pick up my daughter at school, help her with her homework, fix dinner, get the kids ready for bed, put them to bed and then sit in my recliner like a zombie either watching T.V. or scrolling through Facebook on my phone. My husband got home at 5:20 but I feel like we were so tired from our days that we weren't connecting at night. For months now I have been feeling an urging from God to do something about this. And I have been procrastinating. After all, if I did something about it, I would have to make the decision to get up early. I would have to put away my phone at night and not look at it. But, this Sunday I couldn't procrastinate anymore. The pastor's message was one of those messages that felt like it was directly made for me. I had to do something about it because when I really think about it, was I really LIVING? No, I was just going through my rushed routine. I wasn't enjoying my family or the beautiful things around me.
So, for the Lenten Season and hopefully well after this 4 weeks is over, I have made a commitment to make a change. Every morning Joey and I will be getting up at 4:30am. We will do our 1/2 hour workout together. Then we will drink our coffee together, do our quiet time with the Lord together, and pray together before he goes off to work. Then, I will get my work done before my children even wake up (or at least most of it). That leaves me time to spend with Ryder while Zoey is at school and give him my undivided attention. We have also committed to putting our phones away at 6pm. No more Facebook scrolling or game playing. That time is to be spent with each other as a family: playing, talking, and spending quality time together.
Its been 3 days now and I already feel a HUGE difference. Is it hard to get up at 4:30am? Absolutely! I am not a morning person at all. The hardest part is getting up out of the bed. Once I do that, I can keep on moving. Then we work out first to get our blood pumping and wake up. Our quiet time together has been so peaceful. Our prayer time together has been wonderful. I feel more connected to Joey. I miss him while he is gone for work and I can't wait til he comes home. My children do not annoy me when they wake up because I have gotten a chance to wake up and get my mindset right and at peace first. This gives me patience and kindness and love to go through the day. I could very well choose to sleep instead in the morning, but would that really be what I want? Is it more important for me to connect with God, my family, my husband and stay healthy? To me it is. So, I gotta keep remembering that getting those feet out from under the covers is the hardest part. And I can definitely do that! Getting up early is a small price to pay for the blessings my family and I will receive.
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