Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.
Psalm 143:8
I was NEVER a morning person. My favorite shift to work at The Cloister hotel before I was married was the 3pm-11pm shift. I just always felt better at night. Nowadays, I can’t get my body to sleep in after 8am, and stay up past 10pm. So what changed? Not age, although I’m sure that might be the case for some of us. But for me, it was forcing myself to establish a new routine. I really had a desire to read and study my Bible before everyone else in the house woke up, and the chaos of the day ensued. I believed that was the way God wanted me to do things, and I wanted to put Him first. There was also the goal I had of working out daily. These were the two driving factors in creating a good, solid morning routine. Now I enjoy being up and out early, even though it means sacrificing some things on the back end. More about that later…
So how did I do it?
Here are a few tips for what works for me. Maybe they will be an encouragement to you, as well!
- Recognize that a good morning routine starts the night before.
Have a bed-time routine, and a goal time to be asleep. This may mean getting the children into bed a little earlier than they are used to. Or perhaps it means cutting out some of your own TV watching time. When you think of the sacrifices you have to make, also think of your goals. Before going to bed, set out your clothes, lunch bag, Bible, journal, pens, etc. for the next day. Keep a pen and paper next to your bedside, in case you remember something that needs to be done tomorrow. Write it down, without picking up your phone or getting out of bed! Once you put the phone down, try not to pick it back up. It becomes an addicting habit to scroll until you fall asleep, but doing so messes with your circadian rhythm, and your body’s melatonin production, etc. 1 - Set an alarm for the same time each day of the week.
Even if you only want to go to the gym 3 days a week, getting up at the same time every day will teach your body its new routine. This will make it easier to get up on those days you NEED to be up early. Whatever you do, when that alarm goes off – DON’T HIT SNOOZE! Inevitably you will get up a little later, yes, but you will feel groggy, and foggier than you probably would have if you just made yourself get up with the first alarm. This, too messes with your sleep pattern. 2 - Set the tone for the day.
Begin each day with scripture and prayer. Scripture reading plans are great, if your goal is to read the whole Bible in a year, or something like that. But can I make a suggestion? Why not do a topical study of the Bible also? Search out a topic that interests you, or you want to know more about. For example: Search out all the women in the Bible, and read about their lives. You will retain more this way, because you are studying out of curiosity rather than simply to “check a box” and say you have done it for the day.
My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.
Psalm 5:3
- https://www.sutterhealth.org/health/sleep/screens-and-your-sleep-the-impact-of-nighttime-use#:~:text=Studies%20show%20two%20or%20more,other%20type%20of%20relaxing%20activity. ↩︎
- https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjFkMW79YyCAxXDkYQIHYDjBmEQFnoECBoQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Famerisleep.com%2Fblog%2Fnegative-impact-snooze-button%2F&usg=AOvVaw36_VO1n0rhqx82BR3TEtJG&opi=89978449 ↩︎
