In Training

This morning I was wide awake at 0400 hours.  That is real early.  It is my "first" day of Spring Break and I am awake at 4 o'clock in the morning.  When I had a regular job I would wake up at 4:15 every day.  It gave me enough time to do my devotion, sip on some coffee, shower and go.

Since I have been teaching long term, I have had to wake up at 5:00 every day.  That is not bad.  It is one hour more than I was getting and I still accomplish the same things.  Unfortunately, my husband  had to wake up everyday this week at 4:00.  You know I can not sleep once that alarm rings so I get up too.  I'm trained that way.

My son on the other hand says goodnight by saying "Mom-will you wake me up at 6:30? I have recently had to tell him that I am gone by 6:30 and that he should set an alarm.  After all, my husband and I use our cell phone alarms and my son has one as well. 

This morning instead of "sleeping in" I woke up at 4:00am.  My mind began racing...second opinions, scooters, landscaping, eye doctors, diagnosis.....when I finally had enough I got out of bed.  I knew where to go...the Word of God.  I'm trained that way.  If my feet land on the ground, I go to His Word, if they don't, I reach for the Bible on the night stand. 

Things like that don't happen automatically, we have to train ourselves.  Do you think my body just wakes up on it's own? It took years of training to do that.  It began with an old army sergeant who would walk around the house on a Saturday morning when there was no school saying "It's six o'clock-wake up, you're burning daylight!"  My desire to keep company with this man prompted me to get out of bed just to see the father that had worked so hard that week and walk alongside him.

As a result, he has "morning" kids.  I peek into my son's room and he sleeps at 9:30 or so and I let him.  I know he has probably stayed up late to watch a movie or chat with friends.  What will it take to "train" him to wake up early?  Repetition, practice, commitment...the same things it takes us to wake up to the Word of God.

My foundation was laid many years ago but every new chapter in life requires additional training. Reading the Word of God is not only to grow us and sooth our souls, it is to prepare us for a new mission. We are soldiers in this world and our mission is to spread the good news and to share the Word of God.  In order to do that, we must be prepared.  We can not win a battle on our human efforts.  We need to be in the Word!  Are you still in training?

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.  Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.  They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.  1 Corinthians 9:24-25