What you are about to read are two real-life accounts of mornings in our house…

Scenario #1: The alarm goes off at 6:00 am and I promptly turn it off and go back to sleep. The baby was one {or two} too many times in the night and I deserve to sleep in. Little J crawls into bed with me around 6:50 and we both continue to doze until Big J comes in around 7:45. We all groggily make our way downstairs, turn on Disney, Jr. and slowly eat some breakfast. I drink up of coffee while trying to figure out if I can get a workout in while they eat AND before the baby wakes up again. I try to reschedule our day in my head as I have clearly thrown things off by needing to fit my exercise, Bible study, and planning for the day in while the kids are awake. I’m already stressed out by 8:00 am…

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Scenario #2: The alarm goes off at 6:00 am. I may or may not hit snooze once, but I roll out of bed, grab my pile of workout clothes, and head to the bathroom to get ready. Four miles on the treadmill does not sound that great at the moment, but I know I will feel better when it’s done – even if I’m just glad it’s over with for the day! I run my four miles, check in with my workout accountability partners, and take a shower. One or more of the kiddos may be awake when I’m done around 7:15 am or so, but most likely not. I get dressed and make my way to the kitchen for some coffee and quiet time – quite possibly the only time of this sort I will have the rest of the day. I’m tired from multiple wakings in the night for baby, but with caffeine and Scripture in hand {and my workout behind me}, I think this day could actually go quite well…

These two morning scenes are about 50/50 in our house right now, but just writing them out makes me realize just how much I want more of the latter.

Being an early rising mama was a foreign concept to me until I came across Kat and Hello Mornings. The idea of intentionally getting up before my children in order to be more prepared and properly equipped for the day has been revolutionary in my life.

You mean, given the choice, you would much rather get up early than sleep in?

Well, if I’m on vacation, sleeping in wins hands down, but in my daily role as wife, mom, homemaker, homeschool teacher…YES, I WANT to get up early. And I am better in all of those roles when I do!

With a baby in the house, I’ve been giving myself some grace in this area lately, but I am still in the process of making this a daily habit. Seasons of life will cause this discipline to have some fluctuation, but making any effort to get up before your children – even 15 minutes – is a step in the right direction! Even in this new baby season, I still firmly believe I am helping to strengthen our family with an early wake-up call for myself.

The early bird may get the worm, but the early-rising mama gets something much more delicious: peace & quiet, time with the Lord, and an opportunity to prepare for the day ahead so she can greet her family pleasantly and without distraction!

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Family Tie #11: Be an early riser! But don’t just dive in to this tomorrow without a plan. I intentionally wrote this post on a Thursday so you would have the next few days to make a plan for a great start to rising early Monday. Get Kat’s Maximize Your Mornings ebook for free – it will help you think about what you want your quiet time to look like, the exercise you want to do, what kind of planning you want to get done, and more. If you want to get a head start, set your alarm for fifteen minutes earlier than normal tomorrow!

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