5am wake up call

God woke me up around 5am this morning. This doesn't happen often but normally when it does, I don't fight trying to go back to sleep because I know I won't get to sleep. I got up, made my coffee, and started my quiet time. I was excited to read what my devotion talked about today because I figured if God had me up this early He obviously had something to say. Funny enough, my devotion was definitely worth reading but not necessarily worth a 5am wake up call. I finished my devotion and journaling my prayers and concerns and still waited for God to explain to me why I am up so early. Then I thought, does God really need to explain Himself to me?? Then I chuckle.

Then I realize as I have a few candles lit, my small decorative (not Christmas) tree lit, and the only sound is my heat cutting on and off that I haven't sat in the stillness for quite some time. Most of my neighbors are beginning to wake up, but there is a stillness this morning and it is very nice. Maybe all God wanted me for this morning was to sit in His stillness. To stop and be quiet for a little while and not really think on anything except just Him. I thought I would feel tired but I don't. In fact, I really do enjoy mornings like this if I can just drag myself out of bed. When I used to wake up really early for my job in Roanoke I actually enjoyed being up before it seemed the rest of the world was. My dad used to wake up early every morning no matter what day of the week it was. I used to think he was crazy and sometimes I still do because I am a person who requires a lot of sleep. I now understand that perhaps dad loved being up so early because it was only in the quiet that he could truly feel the Lord's presence. It was a time where as the rest of the family slept, he could be by himself with no distractions.

I hesitate to write that I would love to continue this tradition because I know it will require me dragging myself out of my comfy bed on mornings where I may not want to be up so early, but I do think God is teaching me a lesson even as I type this post. The reason so many people in Scripture rose early had nothing to do with it just being the culture and everything to do with God wanting us all to reflect on Him first as we rise. We can have this precious time with Him before we become so involved in our to-do lists and priorities at work. I have failed to remember how important this is. I have my QT with Him each morning but its as many thing already have started up. I would wake up already thinking of my to-do list that day, whereas waking this early gives me plenty of time to be with the Lord of Creation FIRST before my brain can even begin to process what the day holds.

My wake up call may not always be 5am, but it definitely needs to be earlier than what I've made it.