What Kind of “Morning Person” Are You?
I am a morning person. No really I am.
I would just rather spend the morning in bed.
Getting out of my blanket-cocoon is an act of sheer will, an every-day miracle.
To me, the alarm clock is a pebble in my shoe. Indeed, it is a fingernail on the chalkboard of my day. The cheery voices on the radio station are like that sparkly confetti that bursts out of greeting cards onto the lap of some hapless soul.
“Five … more … minutes,” I grumble to my husband. He laughs at my predictable pre-dawn routine.
He shakes my shoulder, jabs me gently in the ribs, then bounds out of bed, like a kid on Christmas morning. The nerve...
Half-asleep, I hear him in the kitchen, making the first pot of coffee. Water rattles the pipes. He flips the switch on the wall — and Thwock! — we have instant flames in the fireplace.
The smell of coffee drifts through the house to the bedroom, coaxing me to stir. Slowly, I wake to a brand-new day — this one, right here, which holds a surprise yet to be unwrapped.
Before my feet hit carpet, I ask the same question I’ve asked for several years: “What are we doing today, Lord?”
It’s how I want to live the day — awake to things on God’s to-do list.
But first, an act of God: He pulls me to my feet. And didn’t someone once say that every journey begins with a single first step?
So by the grace of a holy and benevolent — and humorous!–God (you should see my morning hair), my feet hit the floor. And I take this step, my first step, a grand and glorious movement toward AWAKE.
Popping over from The Gypsy Mama. I love that your husband jumps out of bed. In that respect it is good to be opposites. My husband and I are BOTH not morning people. Needless to say we have three alarms in our room. Still, I love that you call it an “act of God” that you get up. I wholeheartedly agree with that statement. What a beautiful thing that once you get out of bed, your first thought is how to serve God’s to do list best. I need to be more awake to that. Take care!
Nice to meet you, Katrina. 🙂
The three alarms thing is cracking.me.up! 🙂 … I hope my husband isn’t reading this one today. Mr. Scott Lee, don’t be getting any fancy ideas now!
Good morning Jennifer! Here I am, still smiling ear to ear. 🙂 I love your site. And your gift of imagery description are celebrated by my admiring self. “To me, the alarm clock is a pebble in my shoe. Indeed, it is a fingernail on the chalkboard of my day.” <– Love it! I, admittedly, am a bit more like your husband's morning personality – but not everyday. There are days, more recently, that I've been the yearner beneath the covers. Begging the voices of the day to slow themselves quiet, allowing my eyes to soak up silent darkness for just a little longer.
Great prompt response. I'm now a follower and can't wait to keep reading. Have a great day!
Hi Leigh Kay! I absolutely LOVE to stay in bed. And I think part of the reason is, once I get moving, I don’t stop until I hit the sack again that night.
Saturday mornings make me a very, very happy girl. 🙂
I went back to your place and found your follower thing-a-ma-bob, too. I didn’t see it in that little corner before! 🙂
Ditto’s to rough start mornings… My husband can pop right out. Which means my amazingly wonderful husband every morning brings me coffee in bed. Seriously I do not deserve that!
There was a time in my life I wanted to sleep it away, literally! But today I want to live every day AWAKE and aware of what the Father is doing…
This indeed is the day that the Lord hath made! Praise Him!!
Oh. Coffee in bed. Nice.
OK, so now maybe I DO want Mr. Scott Lee to read today’s comments. Well at least *this* comment.
A-hem. Mr. Lee?
I just love your sense of Humor! ( the hair) I have recently found Getting Down with Jesus, and look forward to your blog.
Waving hello to you, Diane! I’m grateful for your voice here in the comment box. Thanks for sticking around … despite my rugged morning appearance. 😉
“I would just rather spend the morning in bed. Getting out of my blanket-cocoon is an act of sheer will, an every-day miracle.”
Have you been hiding in my house? This is SO my struggle EACH and EVERY day!!
Are we morning twins? I’ll bet you have nice morning hair though, Ashley. I can tell in your thumbnail that it lays down nicely. 🙂
Thank you for your voice here in the comment box. Have a fantastic Friday!
Well, I could have been writing that post….So familiar……
The first thing I do when my eyes open is to snuggle deeper into the covers and talk to Abba for a few minutes before anyone knows I am awake….It’s such a precious time to me.
Then the real world begins and it’s off and running……
I love that cocooned snuggle time, too. In a fast-paced world of get ‘er done, those quiet “undercover” moments are precious. Let’s steal ’em where we can, eh?
Thank you Nancy for your words here.
Love this, Jennifer, and it resonates with me. Just last week I wrote in my “Promises” post about waking up to “What are we doing today, Lord”.
My feelings about mornings changes from time to time, but for now, I delight in waking up while the house is dark and quiet. It’s so peaceful and unhurried.
But then I live in south Florida, and having to emerge from a “blanket-cocoon” is a rarity. =)
Oh … my.
That was beautiful, Patricia.
Loved this (quoting here for others in the comment box … who can then click over to your Promises post):
“Before my mornings were greeted with pain, I’d wake every day with open hands and the simple prayer, What are we going to do today, LORD? It didn’t mean that I didn’t have plans for the day, only that I wasn’t clinging to them – that I was giving them over to be changed or redirected, because if the Lord wasn’t in them, I didn’t want to be either.
I set a new goal this year to spend time in God’s word every morning before going to work rather than every night while struggling to keep my eyes open. but like you Jennifer, it’s very hard for me to get out of bed. I have an amazing morning talent, it is the ability to turn off the alarm clock without even waking up. So I have to set two clocks, one near the bed and one a distance from the bed. I would prefer to spend about an hour waking up, which is why I love weekends.
Oh man, Gary, That is talent! To turn off the alarm while still sleeping. 🙂
Hope you’re having a fantastic, sleep-in kind of weekend.
Thank you for dropping by!
I’m the other kind of morning person, the kind like your husband. That’s why I never stayed up late, giggling with you guys at Laity.
Slept in ’til 5 a.m. this morning.
And then there are people like Claire, who can stay up until the wee hours, and then be the first one awake! (And still look good.)
Ah, she’s young. 😉
Jennifer, I love this post! Why change? God wants five more minutes too! I feel the same way, and I am a morning person. But who doesn’t love that last bit of warmth in the bed before the rush of the day? This morning I spent those five minutes AWAKE, (well half-awake) just remembering my dream and feeling the bed under me, listening to Colin talk to the kids, and thinking “It’s OK if I get up at 7:07 today.” And I meant it. Another day, I’ll be the one awake at 5:15 a.m., and that will be OK too.
Ah, yes, Elizabeth. And your response here feels like permission to enjoy those last minutes. I needed that. Thank you, good friend.
Have a fantastic weekend, E.
I knew we had more in common than striking good looks and a love for the Father…I am also a morning person (when still snuggled under the covers as I tell myself “it isn’t really time to get up…it isn’t really time to get up…”). I love that you get up and ask Him what you are doing today…and I love that when I do, He always shows me 🙂
Hugs!!
So Bina … Did you get to sleep in this morning? 🙂
I had to get up at 7 a.m. Poor me…
🙂
Have a great weekend. See you in a few weeks!
“Before my feet hit carpet, I ask the same question I’ve asked for several years: “What are we doing today, Lord?”” I ask this question before getting out of bed each morning too. And I am a firm believer that God does, indeed, has a sense of humor. 🙂
Love this post. Can so relate.
Thank you, Denise. 🙂
Have a great weekend.
I enjoyed your post today. My husband and I are both morning people but I can still relate to warm covers and great coffee. I love that the verse you close with is the same one I read this morning in the book Jesus Calling. I meant to put it on our homeschool board but forgot until now. It is going up after lunch! Thank you!
Hi Cathy! Great to “see” you here. Don’t you love when God puts the same verses in front of us in different places? I do! I think I need the reminders. 🙂
What a great daily question! It sets the stage for excitement and anticipation.
Charles and I have a deal: last one up makes the bed. (So I’ve gotten good at making the bed. 🙂 )
LOL! The bed-making idea is a good one, Monica!
Yes, I like the question, too. And I like to listen with my Spirit to what might be in store for my day. Even if I don’t “hear” anything in my heart, I am a little bit more prepared for the unexpected things that might arise.
Loved this post. I’m not a morning person by nature so getting out of bed at 5:30 truly is a miracle. My new smart phone has helped tremendously because it has a “smart wake” which plays serene music for several minutes before the actual alarm goes off. It also lights up. So, I lay in bed with a a glow of softlight and soft music for 10-15 minutes before I crawl out of bed. It makes waking up so less abrupt. – I have insomnia though, so this contributes to why I often feel so groggy in the morning! – I too am blessed in that when my husband gets up before me, he gets my hot tea ready for me. – I like how you greet God before your feet even hit the ground. It’s his day, what does he have planned? Am I willing to chuck my agenda? Thanks Jennifer!
Mmmm… Must.get.smart.wake.on.my.phone.
I’m a morning person…I just wish I could enjoy each morning at home, instead of having to go to work each day! Oh, and the coffee in bed idea sounds wonnnnderful! 😉
I realize that I am “spoiled” these days. On teaching days, I’m not needed on campus until late morning or afternoon. If I’m grading papers, I can do that with jammies on. … And, this semester, my class was canceled, so I have more time to commit to some writing projects. I might just live in my jammies until June! (I promise to launder them occasionally.) 🙂
I’m so not a morning person, and getting up in the winter when it’s still dark at 8am is hard. Hubs brings me a pot of tea at 7am, and I lie under the covers asking God what plans He has for me today, and putting my plans in His hands. It’s my quiet time and I love it X
If you only knew what kind of a TO-DO list girl I am, you would fully get how hard “God’s to-do list” hit me! Thank you!
left out the blogspot.com on the addy. whoops! 😉
I hear you, Deborah. And all day long, I often find myself trying to super-impose my OWN list. Must.learn.to.bend.the.will…
Thanks for coming by, Deborah!
I have become a master of squeaking out that last five minutes in the mornings…too much of a master, so now I have to set an alarm in the bathroom so I HAVE to get up before it wakes up my daughter….the threat of someone imposing on my uninterrupted shower time gets me up out of bed 🙂
LOL! Tara … I think I might have to resort to this on days when Scott leaves for chores earlier than usual. Thankfully, most days, he will bug me until I get my lazy self up and out of the bedroom. That’s his first “chore” of the day, one that he seems particularly fond of.
You made me smile within the first two lines…I’m guessing you wrote this post after coffee (wink)…love your prose and heart, Jennifer 🙂
I so appreciate you, Dolly. 🙂 You make me smile, too. Yes, first cup of coffee was consumed before I set fingers to keys. That’s a requirement.
I love your “What are we doing today, Lord?” That’s how we should all wake up! After, of course, we beat the alarm clock and whine a LOT! haha!
Thanks for the incredible words. 🙂
LOL! I’m the queen of the morning whine. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by Katie.
Cocooned under a down comforter in winter…I could live there all winter.
Do you think the Lord will ever say, in response to the question “What are we doing today?”, “Why, staying under these cozy covers, that’s what!”
Brilliant, Ann! And I know you’re right. I really know on days when, by 3 p.m., I’ve been racing through the day, and the last time I talked to God — really talked to Him — was at 6:30 a.m.
Yes, I’m guessing that the Lord might like it if I stayed there a little longer … even all morning!
Thank you for that reminder.
I’ve seen you in the mornings, and you underrate yourself. Good question to start the day, asking God for His perspective.
And that quote about a single step? It was the title of my first blog post at the new place. 🙂
I’ve lost the art of lying in bed. I’m afraid I’m a leaper, too, when it’s time (5, generally).
But Rich usually leaps ahead, so the coffee is ready when I head downstairs. Such a gift.
oh i like your picture and text!
This spoke to me. Before I open my eyes, ah I’m praying for His strength to make it! I loved reading your post. I can only hope, one day far off, I can write as eloquently as you 🙂
Neither of us are morning people now that we’re retired. Feet hit the floor slowly here, because staying under that down comforter feels oh so good! Isn’t it the perfect place to listen for the answer to the question, “What are we doing today, Lord?” 🙂
I’ll be borrowing that statement
“I am a morning person. No really I am.
I would just rather spend the morning in bed.”
Oh, the finer things in life.
I spend those last few cozy minutes thanking God for another day and asking Him for help to be pleasing to Him.
I am your husband. You’d growl at me. 🙂
How could I have missed this post?? I have a free hour and am catching up on my blog reading. Clearly I needed to, since I missed this post! Love it, and I love, “— this one, right here, which holds a surprise yet to be unwrapped.” What a great way to look at the day!