In the Morning

I have been an early riser every since I can remember, and I have always been a morning person. Growing up I was always up by 5:30 or 6, regardless of what time I went to bed. My parents tell me the story of how on Friday nights before they went to bed, they would put a bowl of cereal on the kitchen table, with a glass of milk in the fridge, so when I woke up on Saturday morning, I could take the milk out of the fridge and pour it into my cereal, and then go into the living room to watch Saturday morning cartoons, allowing they to sleep in. I remember another story of a Saturday morning when my parents got out of bed and I was sitting in the living room watching cartoons with my grandparents eating donuts. Apparently, I got up early, picked up the phone, and called them over, and told them to bring donuts, and of course they did.

I remember always getting up with an alarm with no problem. Never in my life, have I used the snooze button, I didn’t even know what it was until I was well into high school. The alarm would go off, and I would jump out of bed, with a smile on my face, ready to greet the sunrise, and ready to start my day. I would usually get up early so I could watch cartoons before school.

After high school graduation, I started full time at Menards. I usually worked the opening shift which required my to be to work at 5:45am. No problem for me. Eventually I got a new job at the breakfast cook at the Marriott. I had to be to work at 4:30am, no biggie. Than I moved on to Caribou Coffee requiring a 5am start time, cool, I got to sleep in until 4:30. Than I moved to Bruegger’s Bagels where 3 days a week I started at 5am, 1 day a week I started at 4am, and 1 day a week I started at 3:30am, I will admit that the 3:30 and 4am start time was to early, even for me, but nonetheless, I got out of bed with my alarm with no problems. And that was my life up until about 2 years ago, when we found out that we were having out second kid, Japheth, who would turn out to be more like his old man than I would think.

It would be fair to say that I am a morning person, even though I am really pretty good at functioning at anytime day or night. Now with two kids, daycare is expensive, so I got a job at an undisclosed location working swing shift, 4-12:30. This would allow Jane and myself to work opposite shifts, so we didn’t have to pay for daycare. The last couple of years have been awesome, I don’t regret it one bit, and I just absolutely love staying home with my kids every day, what a blessing. But this working swing shift thing is not easy for a morning person like me.

I started this blog about 9 months ago, when I rededicated my life to Christ, and decided that MitchellBoxeth.com would not be about me, it would be about glorifying God. I have committed myself to getting up at 6am, 7 days a week and read out of my bible until the kids got up, what ever time that would be. I dedicated my breaks at work to reading a Christian book of some sort, and my drive home from work is dedicated to listening to the bible on audio. Considering I don’t leave work until 12:30 in the morning, and it’s a 30 minute drive home, I don’t get to bed until 1:15. Even after almost 2 years, it isn’t getting any easier. This gives me 4 hours and 45 minutes of sleep 5 nights a week.

So why am I sharing all of this? No I am not complaining because of my lack of sleep, in the long run, and the big scheme of things, that is all worth it. I am sharing all of this with you because the last month or so, Japheth has been getting up in the morning at 6am or earlier. Japheth is now 17 months old, if he wakes up, I can’t tell him to go back to bed for a while, or tell him to play quietly in his room until 7:00 like I can tell to Faith. When he wakes up, he chats with himself loudly for a while, and eventually the chatting turns into crying. My point is that when he is up, he is loud enough where I can’t do my bible reading in the morning. I am ADHD, so if it’s not quiet when I do my daily time with God, I can’t stay focused. In the last month, I have had maybe 3-5 morning where I have been able to read, and even then, only for about 15 minutes.

The lack of reading in the mornings is having a negative effect on me. It is just amazing how 45 minutes to an hour each morning with God can affect my attitude during the rest of the day. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t go around moping and cranky all day, but I can certainly see that my attitude, and my temperament are shortened.

I know this distraction is the Devil, trying to keep me away from God. But on the other hand, God is allowing it to happen, and this is all simply a test. I am not upset with Japheth by any means, it is obvious that like his dear old dad, he is going to be a morning person, just like I was, which I am actually happy about. Really, this is a turning point in my daily walk with God. I am going to have to work around it. I don’t find myself closer to God in the last month, but I don’t necessarily find myself drifting away either. So, what’s’ a guy to do, I am not going to do get up earlier that 6, and I don’t really have time during the day to read my bible, which is the reason that I got up and did it so early in the morning to begin with. I still have my breaks at work, and I listen to the audio bible on the way home from work, but that is only 5 days a week.

So now, you are all caught up on what’s been going on with God and me. There is more to tell, nothing bad, but that will be for another blog. Remember that God it good, all the time, and with God, all things are possible.