Does anyone else find your rising time extremely contingent on your bed time? Like me, have you found a big difference between days started early with Jesus (while the house is still and quiet) and days you're plunged into with the first "Mommy I have to go pee-pee" or "Mommy, I'm hungreeee!" ?
By the time the kids are in bed and I clean up the kitchen, it's 8:00. That leaves me (if I stick to my goal of being in bed with a book or my Bible by 9:00) with 60 delicious fleeting minutes in which to:
-connect with my husband...
-visit a friend who doesn't get home from work until 7pm...
-check email (and decide how many to actually answer)-- or flag it altogether...
-actually read my emails...
-post here maybe? or write a post for later?
-click on just one more website...
-wait for our incredibly slow Internet and bemoan the wasted minutes slipping by...
-buy things on Amazon... or do any other online business (and isn't our whole life lived online these days?)
-call my Mom, or a teammate, or a neighbor...
-read just one more chapter in a compelling book...
-maybe watch something to unwind?
-take a shower? (novel idea!)
and a myriad of other projects that never make the short list but hover persistently in the back of my mind...
What to do? How to put the lid on, seek the important over the urgent, use my evenings to unwind and relax, and still get enough sleep to wake up rested before the kiddos?
I don't have the answer yet... praying for wisdom... I'm just staring good and hard at the "whys", hoping knowing why will lead to knowing how to succeed at this life-altering, day-transforming discipline of:
early to bed --> early to rise --> to start my day quietly with Jesus (Who fills my cup and bathes my heart in peace) --> so I can love my boys and serve my family with pleasure, patience, and peace...
Any ideas?
Hee hee! Yes, Carolyn, I think we are kindred spirits, in addition to both having a 1 1/2 year old named Benjamin!
ReplyDeleteI have this struggle, too. I was wondering, do your boys still give you a nap? Mercifully, mine do and I get some of the other things done at that time (blogging, emailing, some clean-up).
I love my morning time, but I am not getting it right now either. My husband says we just need to go to bed at 10, then get up at 6 because 8 hours is all our bodies need and they will adjust!
I guess we are going to try it this week. We'll see... ;)
Carolyn! How did you know??? Seriously. This SAME exact train of thought has been in my mind every night and every morning for the past week. Now that our kids (seem to be) finally over jet lag, the possibility of rising before them seems more attainable, but realistically it still means 5am, which means 9pm bedtime, which means I face the same conundrum as you. Where two or more are gathered right? Surely between our seekings after Him for answers we'll be told something? Keep me posted!
ReplyDelete