5 AM

Background: My alarm usually goes off at 5:30 am and I shut it off only to wake up at 6:04 or later with less than an hour to get my crew out of the house. Needless to say, we never make the hour cutoff. But today was different.

I arose at 5 am without the prompting of an alarm, with a fresh countenance and clear mind. I got myself ready, clothes ironed, children prepared along with a few other things. Dropped everyone of on time, and was just in time for a conference call at work. Had I gotten up at my normal start time, the day would have had a disastrous start.

I find that when the morning is rough and the children are involved, it can really impact their behavior during the day. It affects my productivity if I get a late start which can affect my countenance because I’m frustrated, stressed and behind. So I guess the old saying is true about the early bird catching the worm. In my case, getting up early gave me a better opportunity to cease my day.

Proverbs 31:15 speaks to how the P31 rises early to prepare herself and her staff for the day and to start her family off with a wholesome breakfast (I don’t know if PopTarts and yogurt counts as wholesome, but I’m committed to feeding my folks breakfast). I’m always open to wise counsel, so I ought to follow this lady’s example. Getting up early day can be tough. It gives me whole new appreciation of the Sabbath day. After running yourself all week, having prosperous days full of family, work and ministry, a day of rest is vital in order to motivate yourself to do it all over again. I find that weekends don’t always have a Sabbath built in, with the occasional visit to the gym, church functions, birthday parties and even work. So when Monday rolls back around, getting up early tends to get difficult.

I tend to be an optirealist, a nice mix between optimism and realism. The optimist in me says, “I can get up early and cease my day”! The realist in me says, “Although you could get up early, you may fall asleep at your desk because you stayed up til midnight”. So I let the two sides battle it out some mornings and whoever wins, I just flow with them and try to make the best of my day. But I must condition myself to consistently get up early so that I can be ready for every opportunity. A late, frustrated, stressed out me has the potential of missing out on opportunities. And the thought of missing out on something that will better me and my family is unacceptable. Now, not every opportunity has the potential to better me and my family, and that is where wisdom comes in. Those so called opportunities that parade themselves as something that will better me are no more than time robbers. Know the vision of your family and everyone’s purpose within that vision, and you’ll be able to identify the time robbers.

Well, 5 am comes early, so lets get to it my fellow P31s.

Background: Proverbs 31:15