Making Peace with Mornings

It’s midnight.

Do you think this is a strange time to write about mornings? Well, since I would rather stay up all night to greet the sunrise than get up before dawn, it seems right.

I am a reformed Morning Grouch. For some reason, getting married downgraded me from supremely grouchy to highly reluctant in the morning. (I’m not exactly sure why, but isn’t it pretty sweet that marriage changed me in that way?) While it’s nice not to be grumpy any more, it’s still So Hard to get out of bed. 

I’ve experimented with this: what if I get a full eight hours of sleep? That might require going to bed at 9:30pm, which is a problem for several reasons. First, it’s practically morally wrong to go to bed before 10pm. Second, I lay there, wide awake. Third, it’s just as hard to get up as if I went to bed later and enjoyed my evening.

So I set my alarms and hit my snooze button. I even tried using gently happy morning songs as my alarm, but I just hit snooze when I hear the first few notes.

This reluctance bothers me. I’d like to shed the struggle. That peaceful, early morning time is really beautiful. I actually love walking my dogs in the morning before work. 

My struggle inspired me to seek peace with getting up in the morning. I haven’t achieved that yet. I’m not sure I want to. I take pride in being a night owl and my nursing goals probably require more night shifts (which I actually LIKE). But maybe if I change my perspective on the hours before 8am, getting out of bed will be easier.

I decided to check out what the Bible has to say about mornings.

Here’s what I learned:

1) BIG HUGE relief!

I found ONLY ONE reference to Jesus getting up early to pray (Mark 1:35). If you grew up in church, you know there’s a big push to allocate time at the beginning of the day to communicate with God. There are great reasons for doing this at the start of the day, but for some of us, later is better for quality time.

2) Wise humor

“Whoever blesses his neighbor with a loud voice in the morning, it will be counted as cursing” (Proverbs 27:14). And all the night owls said, “AMEN!”

3) Divine design

God created mornings (Genesis 1:5). A beautiful sunrise is testimony to that.

4) Discipline

Lots of people in the Old Testament got up “early in the morning” to follow God’s instructions. My interpretation: act quickly when there’s something to do rather than procrastinating.

5) My favorite

I love that mornings are often linked to God’s steadfast love: 

“I will sing of Your steadfast love in the morning” (Psalm 59:16).

“Satisfy us in the morning with Your steadfast love, O Lord” (Ps 90:14).

“Let me hear of Your steadfast love in the morning” (Ps 143:8).

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning” (Lamentations 3:22-23). 

Since steadfast means “firmly fixed” and “unwavering,” I’m trying to think of mornings as a celebration of God’s steadfast love for each of us. Whatever darkness we have in our life, it cannot supersede the light and hope of morning’s reminder that God is our strong and loving father. Which ties into this familiar quote: “Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning” (Ps 30:56). Rest followed by a new day brings new hope and new perspective (although a nap usually does the same thing, so...).

6) My application

“In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice; in the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch” (Psalm 5:3). This is where I’ve found traction. When I walk my dogs, I try to pray. But I am easily distracted, especially when it’s not dark. Still, I try. And I usually choose one thing to “eagerly watch” for that day. 

You know what?

EVERY TIME I make that request, God has answered with a yes. 

How cool is that?!

Today it’s Sunday and that's a great thing because my church has a pretty late service, so it will be fully daylight when I wake up. Happiness!

On Monday I’ll continue my quest to reconcile with my early wake up call. 

May your mornings be bright.