Early Birds?

I have learned over the years that getting up sooner versus later in the morning is an awesome gift to myself. I have a difficult time sleeping beyond 6-6:30am. I struggle with those who stay in bed until noon or even later. I know that everyone isn’t a morning person. Yet, I have learned from being  a night owl that getting up early has its benefits.

I was shocked that I was able to rouse a group of teens a few days ago to say goodbye to our Jenessa. I texted at 4am and I got responses from a dozen youth. Incredible that some would actually be able to make their way out of bed! The challenge for most is how do I make a commitment to be in better physical and spiritual condition? Does this mean that I have to rise early in order to be a better person?

I got to my Starbucks early this morning to do some thinking and writing. I wasn’t surprised to see a group of young moms meeting for a Bible Study before their kids are up and making noise! I know that my friends at this Starbucks have to rise more like 3am to be to work at 4am. I do have memories from my youth of doing a paper route; this wasn’t on my bike, where I delivered 300 papers during the week and over 400 on Sunday. We did this for the 3 years we were in college together. This provided the means for us to live and finish school. It worked and taught us the blessing of being an early riser!

I can remember hiking up Mt. Whitney and having to be on the trail at 3am. This provided our small group the means to hike to the top in one day. It was a long day that would have been hiking back in the dark if we hadn’t risen really early! Jesus seemed to have a tendency to get up early to spend time alone and with his Father.

I’m doing something bold in the summer and asking a few in our group to get up early and exercise and think of a verse for the day. We will do this twice a week to see if after doing this for 6 weeks or so in a row that it will change everyone’s lives.