I hate early mornings. With all my heart, I hate early mornings. I know hate is a strong word and the other day when I said that I hated something, Liya said to me, "Don't say that, mumma, that's not a nice word." But what can I do? It doesn't change the fact that I hate waking up early.
I'll explain why. The truth is I've always been more of a night owl than an early bird. But after Liya was born, sleep deprivation has been the story of my life, as is with any mother of an infant or toddler. It's only over the past year that she has finally begun sleeping through the night, and I can't believe I need to do this all over again. Gosh, I'm too old for this.
Sorry, I got carried away with my rant and I've strayed from my point, as per usual. Bear with me, please.
Coming to the point of this blog - For the past few months, I've been asking God to help me wake up early to make time for Him, and it's been kinda hit or miss. But over the past week or so, I've been waking at 5.45am, on the dot - no alarm, nothing. The alarm is set for 6.30am and I'm always awake way earlier than that. And I've made myself get out of bed, go make myself some coffee or tea, and get straight to doing my quiet time with the Lord.
I cannot begin to describe just how marvelous this time has been. I've been reading and learning from the Word of God in ways that I didn't think were possible for me. I'm able to spend a solid 1hr+ just reading, learning, meditating and praying and it has refreshed and energized me in ways I never imagined.
I know that they say it takes 21 days of repeatedly doing something to form a habit. But I want to believe that this is here to stay, simply because it's the Lord who has been the One driving all of this for me. I didn't expect this time to be so productive. Or to feel this motivated and to look forward so much to what God has in store for me each day.
I don't know what's stopping you from cultivating the discipline of regular time with God. Maybe you're the way I was - rationalizing that it doesn't matter to God what time of the day I spend with Him, as long as I do. Or saying that I don't need to do it everyday as long as I'm communing with Him in some way, fairly regularly. Or thinking the Spirit is there with me anyway all day, so why should I make an effort to spend time specifically with God. I've thought all these things at some point or the other. I've also come to realize that all of this is bogus and that I need to make a time commitment each day and I have done it in the past, but with so many changes in schedules, things have gone haywire.
What I'm trying to say here is that don't let these excuses get in your way of making time for the Lord, like I have. Because if God can make someone like me, who loathes early mornings wake up to spend time with Him, He can do it for you too.
Someone said, "The biggest battle you will face in your life is your daily appointment with God. Keep it, or every other battle will become bigger." Get this one thing put in place and I promise you that everything else will get that much more clearer for you, everyday. I'm not saying your troubles will magically disappear overnight. Of course, they won't.
But when we look upon His holiness and gaze at His loveliness in this time that we spend in His presence, the things that surround us become shadows in His glorious light!