I am not a morning person. I’ve said that all my life. And it. is. true.
However . . .
The Lord and I were wrestling through many of the nights last week over my stress. I knew I was stressed because I wasn’t eating well and I was biting my fingernails like crazy. What is wrong with me? I kept asking Him. Show me what needs to be different inside me to fix this!
The thing about God is, when you ask Him for an answer like that, He will give you one–even if it hurts.
You really want to know? He said.
Yes! Yes! Yes! I hate living like this!
Get up earlier.
(me) Silence. The kind where you hang your head in shame.
Now you have to understand, all spring I had been getting up earlier. Much earlier. It was hard, but I knew I needed the extra hours to finish the draft of my book and get it sent in so I could get the revisions back and work on it some more. But I sent it off and summer hit and I relaxed. No more dragging myself out of bed before I was ready. Or so I thought.
What makes you think you don’t have to get up early and get to work when almost all of the rest of the world has to?
Ouch. The Lord showed me my sin. Now I had a choice: deal with it or ignore it. Scripture is filled with examples of what happens to those who repent and those who do not. I wanted to be on the repent side.
And so I’ve reached the moment (yet again in my life!) when “that’s the way I am” is no longer an excuse. I will get up earlier than I prefer, at least on the weekdays. And I will savor the extra minutes (or hours!) in bed on the weekends. I know it won’t be easy. There will be days I will fail. There will be days I want to quit altogether. But I will persevere. For if I have learned anything in my decades-long walk with Christ, it is that blessing comes through obedience. I’d rather hang on until blessing arrives–even if I have to prop my eyes open with toothpicks.
Do you have an area of your life you used to excuse with “that’s the way I am,” then the Lord convicted you that it was sin? (Yes, I have more examples than just this one! Please tell me I’m not alone!)
I’ll pray for your early mornings & yep, I have lots of examples with this. Struggles with patience count among them.
~ Wendy
Patience. Yes. “That’s the way I am” factored into a lot of years of resisting work on that one for me, too! Thanks for the prayers. I need them! And I’ll be praying for you, too! 🙂
Good morning, D’Anne….who can’t relate to this? We all have areas where, if we will allow God in, He will show us our way of escape…our way of repentance and obedience. Sometimes what starts out as discipline will turn into desire, and I believe the time will come when you can’t go without getting up earlier just to be with the Lord. For me, it is faithfulness to pray for a particular person’s salvation; to choose to love, bless, encourage and pray for this individual. Easy? No…but my choice to either disobey or obey. I choose to obey and look forward to the day when this person truly knows the Lord personally, not as a religion. Love you! laura
Thanks for the encouragement, Laura! Yes, I hope that discipline will turn into desire very soon–for both of us! So glad you had a good trip! 🙂
I’m not organized. I don’t like to clean. Why do I imagine that no one else does anything outside of their preference? I doubt anyone says, “I enjoy cleaning bathrooms. That’s who I am.” So what right do I have to claim an exclusion from the daily tasks that are universal? Don’t get me wrong…I do them, but do I see it as part of my responsibility or an interruption of my more important work? I can’t grumble through 70% of my tasks just because I’d rather be doing something else.
“Why do I imagine that no one else does anything outside of their preference?” Exactly what I was convicted of last week! I’m with you. I hate those daily tasks, too. It’s just been in the past 6 months I feel like I’ve gotten a better handle on doing them–and my attitude while doing them! Glad to know I’m not alone. 😉