In The Morning When I Don't Rise

So if you are a morning person you may not understand this, but me, I hate getting up in the mornings. I am an evening person and have been as long as I can remember. Recently, however, my body has begun waking me up around 7 or so. I know this is the Holy Spirit waking me up to spend a few much needed minutes with God before the kids get up and the day really begins, but still I resist. Why is this? Why do any of us do this? What is it about our nature that resists these promptings and says, "just 5 more minutes" until there are no more minutes.

Before we moved I was regularly getting up early to spend time with God, but I have gotten so lazy. So now when i just wake up I say, "no, I just want to sleep." This is a selfish attitude and it needs to be weeded out of me. This morning it was 5:00 and I could not go back to sleep. I got up, ate a little something and messed around on the computer before going to lie back down at 6 hoping for 2 more hours of sleep. No! God was not letting me sleep this morning. All I got was a headache from trying to force sleep on my body. So finally around 6:30 I relinquished and read some scripture and talked with God about what was on my mind. It was refreshing, and I remember why I had initially disciplined myself to get up early every morning to meet with God. It changes your perspective on the day. It prepares you for what lies ahead and puts you in tune with God's Spirit.

Jesus sets this example for us in Scripture. Mark 1:35 says, "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went to a solitary place, where He prayed" (NIV). Jesus, the Son of God, perfectly in tune with the will of the Father, got up early and prayed alone so He could commune with His Father. How much more, then do we need to rise early and talk with our Heavenly Father so that we can hear His perfect voice and will for us? I know for me, I could spend all day in the Word and prayer and it still would not be enough. I hope this will become a good reminder for me of the need to rise early and actually start listening to the Spirit when He calls to me, "come and sit at your Father's feet".