I am not a morning person.

Let me rephrase that.

I am not the type of person that gets up extra early to be somewhere and smiling while I do it in the morning. I am the roll out of bed maybe an hour before I need to be some place depending on what I need to do in the morning type person. I am set your alarm clock thirty minutes early so I can hit snooze for fifteen minutes and debate if I really need to get up for fifteen minutes type of person. I am the lay in bed and try to figure out why my alarm clock is going off type of person.

Ideally I would wake up on my own without an alarm clock, lay in bed for a moment, then after an hour of staring at the ceiling get out the bed. Unless I’m hungry, then I will be up way before that.

Before I get too far into this message I have to confess a few things.

1. I started a one year Bible reading plan two years ago that I have yet to finish.
2. I give God lazy prayers when my to-do list is too long.
3. When I pray or read the Bible at the end of the day, I fall asleep.
4. Sometimes I opt for Church via the internet when I’m in town.

Before you start pointing your sanctified finger. I have read the Bible from cover to cover several times. I prayed prayers that have changed the atmosphere. I have gotten so immersed in the Word and my time with God that I have lost track of time. I have been at church serving for one service and attending another. But even the most devoted of God’s children will notice that the fire is not as hot as it used to be.

Recently I have been making an effort to wake up at 5am to pray, read my Bible, and praise God. The first few days was a mess. Day 1, I didn’t get out of bed until 5:15. Day 2, I was up at 5 but yawned through most of the reading. Day 3, I slept through the alarm. Day 4, I got up moved to the sofa then fell back to sleep. Day 5, I didn’t even set the alarm.

This was a struggle, but I was tired of giving God my scraps when He has given so much to me. So I pushed on. Then I realized that God didn’t want my rituals He wanted my consistency. How long could I sustain getting up at my self-proclaimed 5am start time? How long would it be before I started to resent what I was doing?

I want to give God my best and sleepy, tired, uninterested 5am me was not going to cut it. At that moment I decided to change my approach. I decided that I would start my day with God. It didn’t matter if I woke up at 5 or 10:45.

Just like we wouldn’t talk on the phone when we’re dead tired we shouldn’t talk to God

 

then either. Figure out the best time and atmosphere that works for you because God wants to talk to you. He wants a real relationship with you. The kind of relationship that only happens with consistent meaningful conversation.

I’m not sure if I’ll ever be a morning person, but I know that I can start my day with God no matter what time of day.

Featured photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash.