Getting up early is the bomb. Especially after talking with my roommate until one in the morning the night before and, thus, falling asleep at an unseemly hour, I love my alarm jolting me awake before the sun even decides to pull out from under the covers. Obviously, 5am is a perfectly reasonable time for people of all ages to start their days. Come one, come all, to another call to approach the wee morning hours with zeal and passion for what is to come in the hours ahead!
Said no one ever.
I’ll admit it – the idea of getting up early is nice. I have countless times pictured myself waking up before dawn, going for a cool morning run, getting ready at a leisurely pace, and having an enriching Bible study all before I get in my car to leave for the day. I have even set ambitious alarms at 5:29 (because I have this thing about normal numbers like 5:30) in addition to placing my phone on the opposite side of my bedroom. Even Pinterest has awarded me many tips on “how to become a morning person,” but despite the inspirational writers encouraging me to sleep in my workout clothes, I snooze until it’s 7:00 and I have 30 minutes before I need to be out of the door.
And when that happens, I: a) get annoyed because I again will have to either skip a workout or run at 9pm, b) start my day aggravated because my hair ends up half-done (maybe), and c) finish off my frustrations with being late – one of my biggest pet peeves – to wherever I need to be at 8 o’clock that day.
Thus, getting up early still sounds really nice, but I still really struggle with that 5:29 number.
Granted, I spent most of the summer as a free agent – completely open to sleeping in as late as I desired. I grew accustomed to relishing every necessary second of sleep, only setting generous alarms around eight or nine on weekdays. Back in the good ole days of summer, I could spend hours waking up at my own pace and could run whenever I pleased.
But now, I am back to the grad school grind. Just being in class for two weeks has already shown how quickly a girl can tire with the unfamiliar load. And with the tiredness has come a resistance to run at 5:29 and a refusal to place reading God’s Word over Beloved Sleep.
Just typing it frustrates me.
I – the girl who wrote a book about Christian identity over the summer, the girl who boldly talks about her faith with people, the girl who loves Jesus – has let consistency with her faith slip. The Bible verse that says we all sin and fall short (Romans 3:23) certainly still holds true for me. My tendency to try to rely on my own strength always fails, yet I continue to choose myself over God because I am a sinner daily in need of saving.
So praise Jesus that His mercies are new every day (Lamentations 3:23).
Psalm 119 is the longest book of the Bible, and Kevin DeYoung in Taking God at His Word notes that 169 of the 175 verses exult praise over the Bible itself.[i] In fact, verses 40, 77, 111, 143, and 174 (to name only a handful) all speak of God’s Word as delightful, joyful, and life-giving. Not only were these verses true to the psalmist, but they are also true to me. For when I devote my attention toward God’s instructions in His Word, I am much more joyful than when I neglect to study the Bible.
Therefore, I need to get back on track with making time for God (the one who created time in the first place), not to earn His attention, but because without devoting my time to Him, I suffer from the lack of spiritual nourishment.
So I am making it a point to prioritize God over my sleeping habits again. I may not know exactly how I am going to balance it all with working out, but I do know that if I cannot maintain consistency with fostering the source of my joy, then I surely will not be able to pursue working out consistently.
However, although I desperately want to pursue better consistency in both faith and working out, I have to state a stark difference that separates the two. With working out, people have to put in a lot of effort to see the results. With faith, Jesus has put in all the effort on our behalf, and we see the results. Because of Jesus – not because of how much we work – we can see the abundance of ways in which He is working in our lives. As a result, we may have more of a desire to read Scripture or a live a life in obedience to His Word, but these actions are not the goal of Scripture. Jesus is the pinnacle of Scripture, and we get to rest in the peace of His unending grace.
Therefore, I will rest in the grace of God and work to live my days in honoring ways. And when I do, maybe I’ll respond with more joy to people who ask me how I’m doing that day. Or maybe I’ll be more aware of the beauty in the education, health, and work with which God has blessed me. And maybe I’ll even give myself some grace to give myself an extra minute of sleep. Because the minute between 5:29 and 5:30 may just give me that extra minute of sleep that I need to seize the day the way God desires for me.
Or maybe I’ll just get up at seven.
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
[i] Kevin DeYoung, Taking God At His Word: Why the Bible Is Knowable, Necessary, and Enough, and What That Means for You and Me (Wheaton: Crossway, 2014), 12.
