Just Do It

For most of us it is hard.  It is especially hard in the beginning.  The body does not want to do what it does not like to do.  What it wants to do in the hours before the sun shows itself is sleep; yet, we keep reading that the spiritual giants of the past are those who rise and use those first hours of the day as important "cannot be interrupted" moments with God.  We tell our body these spiritual giants are who we want to use as models for our own spiritual life and our body says, "Be quiet and go to sleep."     

And, of course, we remember that story in the early verses of Mark's gospel which took place in the home of Simon and Andrew.  "And in the morning, having risen a long time before daylight, He (Jesus) went out and departed to a solitary place, and there He prayed."  (Mark 1:35)  Apparently, these spiritual giants from our past took this Word about Jesus seriously.  And no matter what our body tells us about sleeping another hour early in the morning, it would be a good thing to listen to these words about the spiritual life of Jesus than to succumb to a little more sleep.   

It is at least worthy of another effort.  If it means we have to get up a little earlier, then maybe we might find that it is worth it.  We may also have to ignore that internal plea for more sleep.  It will be harder the first few mornings, but after the habit gets established in our life, we will likely come to a place where we would not choose to start any day without some time alone with our Father God.  If it has been awhile, there is no need to get out the guilt stick and start beating ourselves.  Instead, we just need to get up and sit down in the morning silence and let God speak to our hearts.