Only 2 more days – TWO MORE DAYS!! – and I can officially stop blogging my devotions every night (it’s usually at night). Most of the time I have really enjoyed it. Sometimes I’ve been so tired or burnt out, but I slogged through.
And it was worth it. I wrestled with God and He won!
This year of blogging changed my life!
But I have to continue my commitment to be in the Scripture and prayer every single day next year. I know for sure, without a doubt, that I need to do this in the morning, to start my day out right, to read, to hear, to seek God with decisions, to ask Him to help me love my family and my friends and my colleagues better. Every day. Every morning.
Besides, Yahoo says people who get up early have greater success. Seriously. Read it here.
The article also says 20% of us are absolute night owls. That would be me. Sigh.
One of my readings today confirmed this commitment:
…the LORD takes pleasure in his people;
he adorns the humble with salvation.
Let the godly exult in glory;
let them sing for joy on their beds.
(Psalm 149:4-5 ESV)
What a fantastic thought — the Lord takes pleasure in us!
The ESV Study Bible says of that last phrase: “This section begins … with a call to the godly to exult and sing for joy (even on their beds, when they ought to be sleeping).”
Did you get that? “when they ought to be sleeping.” Yep. I am going to ask God to wake me up early each AM so I can “exult and sing for joy” when I “ought to be sleeping.” Sigh.
I’ve also decided to read roughly one chapter of the Bible a day (plus double and triple up on most Psalms). That means I’ll get through the Bible in three years. That pace will help me spend more time meditating on the Word.
I may blog on occasion. We’ll see. But I have a huge amount to do this coming year: turn around a ministry, help husband as he gets well, care for kids, move family halfway across country. If we are friends on FB or via email, please keep in touch!
So that’s the plan. And I’m sticking to it.
Starting 1/1/13.
Here’s the other passage that moved me today. John speaks from his Revelation:
Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,
“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure”—for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
(Revelation 19:6-8 ESV)
This is one reason we quoted from Revelation at our wedding: the book ends with the marriage of the Lamb and His Bride.
That’s what Christians look forward to! We will be presented to Jesus bright and pure – because “He lived the life we could not live and died the death we should have died.”
So, when I get up early next year, I’ll (try to!) rejoice and exult (when I should be asleep), remembering that Jesus died to make me His bride.
Amen.
Today’s Passages: Zechariah 10:1-12:9, Psalm 149:1-5, Proverbs 30: 32-33, Revelation 19:1-21. See About for what I’m up to with these daily posts. Your daily blogger, Holiday Longing (Reproduce with permission only)
I’m so grateful that you’ve kept up this commitment you made! It’s been fun following along with you. I will certainly keep you and your family in my prayers.
As far as being a Night Owl, I’m right there with you. Always have been, and many times I’ve tried to revert to a morning person, and have not been able to. For me, it goes beyond just habits — I am subject to pretty bad migraine headaches if I get my sleep patterns too far out of sync with what they naturally want to do. If I go to bed earlier, I don’t sleep well, and wake up feeling groggy. So I sleep more, since I don’t feel rested, then I end up with the headaches.
But if it will enable you to do more of the things you want in your life, I hope that you can succeed in becoming a morning person.
Hopefully you will still stop by and blog from time to time. I’m wondering if you’re going to miss it a little bit more than you realize, once you no longer feel the weight of the “commitment and obligation” part. Guess you’ll find out…
Well I need a break! Once school starts, I have to get up early anyway. With Rick on his dialysis machine, I end up taking the kids to school when I am in town. Without the blogging, I am likely to get to bed at a better time anyway. I feel such responsibility with the new job, too (really – for women to come to faith!) that I want to make sure I’m plugged in to the wisdom and power source first thing!! Take care. Happy 2013!