Psalm 113:3
If you follow us on instagram you would have noticed a number of photographs at dawn in the last couple of weeks… and what on earth is that about – we are as a family totally not, NOT, morning people… not naturally anyway. I haven’t been plagued by heaps of children that wake in the pre-dawn ready for the day – and if anyone has risen early they have quickly learnt that there is no mothering at that time of day. Our kids routinely sleep until nine and I am all for it…
Before we had kids I was a morning person, so I can blame them very much. I am slowly emerging from years of a galactic sleep deprivation experiment, known as “parenting the very young”… years and years of being woken every two hours can wear even the toughest of us down. Years of being up all night and finally falling asleep with babe in arms at five am is not a good recipe for early rising. But I really do enjoy the quiet of dawn and I really do believe that an intentional start and a slow rise is much better for everyone’s day rather than hurtling from bed and starting your day – always behind.
Now I know that it takes a while to establish a good habit… So while I have been working on a number of daily habits with our kids… bible reading, writing, daily creating… I really want to be able to rise before dawn and be ready for the day. Now most people say that to get up bright and fresh and ready for the day you really need to get to bed timeously the night before, while that is true, I know myself and the expression “never gonna happen” leaps to mind. Then the winter school holidays dawned and my older children were involved in programs that required an incredibly early rise. I volunteered to be up and ready to get them out of the house each morning. I tried to be cheerful about it… it wasn’t easy. I told myself that if after three weeks it didn’t work out then I could go back to my lazy ways…
The first week was impossible, I had to to be in the city by eight each morning… Leave home way before se7en… It is winter here folks – dark and cold… and often wet and rainy… By the second week I thought it would be easier… in fact it felt worse. The third week I nearly quit… and enthusiasm totally waned. The only thing that kept me going was when you take a dawn photo on instagram – folks tend to be encouraging and say have a good day from all over the world. I am all for encouragement!!! Suddenly I stopped counting the days… getting up a whole lot earlier has become once again a way of life. And just as naturally as I was getting up earlier so I was able to go to bed earlier – ever so slightly adjusting my personal time-zone to the same one that we live in!!!
My poor family have no idea what has hit them… I am up before them, I am ready for the day… they wake up to the sound and smell of the coffee machine already on the brew. But more important, an early rise gives me the peace and quiet I have been needing for my quiet times… which are very often anything but quiet… and I am better equipped than I have been for a long time to respond to Psalm 113:3.
I loved this post – I am not a morning person by nature, but my husband & both boys are! So out of necessity as a homeschooling mother I learned to get up, get started, have my coffee & Bible reading before the boys are up. I have enjoyed your sunrise pictures on Instagram – you’ve inspired me to take some of my own! You’ll have to check my feed to see if I come up with anything! 🙂
Such lovely photos!! My favourite is the last one; I remember that view so well! Makes me homesick for Fish Hoek & you all. Sending lots of love from our corner of the world to you!
What a lovely testimony … I so appreciate your honesty. Maybe I should give that “getting up in the morning” thing a try, eh? 😉
Hay Christi, who knew that instagram could be instrumental in getting me up and going!!! Don’t you love it over there… Hopefully this is the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship with the dawn!!! Have a great week!!!
Laura W, How brilliant to hear from you!!! Oh how sweet to have popped those photographs into that post, without even thinking of it and surprised you!!! I actually took the kids past your old house the other day to show them where you all stayed!!! Lots of love right back to you all from a wild and stormy Cape Town!!!
Oh Kate, I never thought I would be the one to write a post about early rising – it is a crazy world after all!!! Turns out it really can be done and I just needed a real reason to get up and get going in the morning. I must say going to bed earlier didn’t help at all… at first. I would just be wide awake and amazed that everyone else was sleeping so soundly… I had to get up early enough to be tired enough and the end of the day to get to bed… if that makes any sense at all!!! I started a little while back getting up early one or two mornings a week and it turned out those days were brilliant, the results are worth it – certainly school wise and chilling along with eight-kids wise!!! Give it a try – you might be surprised, and if you aren’t then at least you tried!!! Hope you all have a great week!!!
Love this lovely post and the photos too.
I also find that early (quiet!) start does wonders for my day!
Great post as usually!
Thank you Katja, Hope you are having a fabulous week!!!
You are INSPIRING me, friend! Next week is the first week we will be hitting up ALL of our homeschool curriculum- I now want to get up early like I used to, too- though I am NOT a natural morning person, so I just may have to start the day in the beginning with two cups of coffee instead of one… :0)
The pictures are absolutely gorgeous. And now the song after which the title of this post is named, has been playing in my head for the past day since I read the post 🙂
Hay there Amber… I am all for coffee… whatever it takes!!! Wishing you all the best!!!
Thank you Mrs FF, It is indeed one of those “Stick in the head ones”!!! Hope you are having a fantastic week!!!
Wow! What a view you have. I remember it well and usually had a little somebody on my lap while I drank some fabulous hot tea. Miss you all and think of you each and every day.
Hay Aunty Kathy, How lovely to hear from you!!! How amazing to think that those little somebody’s are all so big now!!! You are in our thoughts so much!!! In fact we were chatting about you all at church this morning about how fun it is going to be for the new student from church, who is starting at your college over there in the next week or two – lucky thing… it sounds like a fabulous adventure!!! Wishing you all the very best and tons of love – from the heart of a Cape Town winter!!!