Early to Rise?

I mentioned recently that we started a new study in the Bible Study that I go to on Tuesday mornings. We are studying the book Shopping for Time. So far, I have really enjoyed it. It's all about time management, and that's definitely something I could do better on. For me, it's so easy to use the kids as an excuse for not getting a lot done at home some days. And while there will definitely be days when they require more attention and cause me to get less done, that doesn't excuse me from shirking my duties around the house. So, I'm looking forward to studying this book more and hopefully getting some insight on how to better manage my time. I think the book is going to be pretty basic. I don't think I'm going to really read/hear anything that will be mind blowing, but hopefully it will just encourage me to be more diligent with my time. There is also a blog that the women who wrote the book have, and it has a lot of good information, too.

Anyway, the second chapter of this book (that's as far as we've gotten!) was one I was really dreading. It's called "The First Tip: Rise Early (Joining the 5 AM Club)" Since I am NOT a morning person, I was kind of not excited about reading that because I was worried it was going to say that everyone should get up at the crack of dawn in order to be productive. I was pleasantly surprised when I read the chapter. While they do recommend getting up early, the way it was written was, in my opinion, very good about not making you feel like less of a Christian if you don't get up early.

They do think it's a good idea for women/moms to get up early -- meaning before the rest of the family. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, and most importantly, it allows you to spend time with the Lord at the very beginning of the day. This is something I have never done. Since I am not a morning person, I've never had my quiet times in the morning. I have always done them sometime during the day. I don't have a specific time everyday set aside to do them, and, sadly, that means I'm not as consistent as I should be and WANT to be. In the book, they made the point that everyday we are entering a spiritual battle zone. There is spiritual warfare going on around us everyday, and we would never enter a battle without first preparing and putting on our armor, so why would we enter the spiritual battle that we face everyday without doing the same? This definitely made me think. I'm not saying that I now think it's necessary to do your quiet time in the morning, but I can really see how spending time with the Lord first thing everyday would better prepare me for the day. I also think it would help me be more consistent with my devotions if I have a set time for them everyday, whether that is first thing in the morning, or right when the kids first go down for their naps.

The second reason the book recommends women getting up earlier is to serve our families. It said that we have a wonderful opportunity to get up first and prepare for the day by possibly cooking breakfast for our husbands or getting lunches packed for our kids (that obviously doesn't apply to me, but there are other thing I could do to make the day run more smoothly). It pointed out that the Proverbs 31 woman rose before the sun to provide food for her family. Thank God we don't have to do that! ;-) Of course, getting up early to serve your family would probably look different for every woman, but you get the point. The book just said to make sure your schedule serves your priorities.

After reading and discussing this chapter in Bible Study, I thought maybe I should start getting up earlier. It's sometimes hard to tell if I'm really being convicted by the Lord to do something, or just caving to peer pressure since pretty much everyone in my Bible Study decided they would start getting up earlier. Haha! I have always just gotten up whenever the kids wake up. That's always seemed to work fine, but I started wondering if it would work better to get up before them to have my quiet time and prepare for the day (meaning take my shower, get dressed, get breakfast ready, etc.). I will go on record here saying that I will NEVER get up at 5 AM unless the Lord just really changes my heart. Ha! The book did stress that there is no set time you have to get up in order to be getting up "early." This will vary greatly. The women who wrote the book get up at 5 AM. For me, getting up at 7 would be early. (Don't judge! Haha!)

So, all that to say, I'm still undecided about whether or not I'm going to join the "7 AM Club." I haven't bitten the bullet and done it yet. I feel like I can't really start something like that until Jude is at least sleeping through the night. I don't think I would be a very nice person if I wasn't getting solid sleep AND getting up early. I think it's probably something I will end up trying at some point just to see if it works for us. So, I'm wondering: am I totally unusual that I get up when my kids get up? Or is this common? Please tell me what you do, and if you get up early, do you feel like it's worth it? I think I need a little encouragement if I'm going to start getting up early. Haha!

By the way, Aubrey usually gets up around 8. Sleeping LATE would be getting up at 9, but that's only if she skips a couple of naps or stays up really late. So it's not like we're sleeping the day away. Right? Ha!