Early in the morning

Have you ever gotten to the end of your day and wondered what happened to the day? You’re wondering how 6 p.m. came so soon and why you didn’t do the 10 things you set out to do that day. When we wake up, our minds are generally clear and we often times decide to “save the world” that day – or if not the world then at least give our “to do” list a good striking through. Then something happens. The seconds turn into minutes, minutes turn into hours, the evening arrives and we’ve done nothing. Not a thing on our list is checked off. We didn’t save the world, and we didn’t save anything in our personal lives. How do we stop this viscous cycle?

I’ve heard many people advise that “early in the morning” is when we should pray, meditate, read, workout and take time for the important things in our lives. I have been resistant to this creed for a few things. While I meditate, pray and spend quiet time with God, I haven’t gotten my head around exercising or reading or some of the other things that I am too tired to do in the evening. Now that it is dark outside in the early morning, I especially loathe getting up because psychologically for me, it is still “night time.” What’s the solution? SUCK IT UP!

If I constantly create excuses as to why I can’t get up and do what I say I want to do, then clearly I don’t want to do those things “bad enough.” We create time for what is important – even if the time is in the wee hours of the morning. Early in the morning, our minds & spirits are fresh (even if our breath isn’t!) and our bodies are poised to do great things. 

There is a woman whom I greatly admire who had three children, and she found the time to get up, spend time with God in prayer and study time, exercise, lose 20+ pounds, keep her household running and work full-time while being an awesome mom. If you have excuses, look around in your life for someone who has all the excuses in the world, but still finds a way to make it happen. Maybe you can glean some inspiration from them. There is a special blessing for those who decide to start their day early in the morning…