You're going to think I'm crazy,

but hear me out first. I have been very convicted, kind of all school year, to become a more early riser. There are so many benefits to waking up early, but I've just never had the stamina or willpower to do it (my husband will tell you all day long).

It is no secret that one of my favorite blogs is Girl Talk by the Mahaney women. Well, they all wrote a very short book called Shopping for Time that I was flipping through while I was shopping for an undisclosed person's Christmas present, and I saw the idea of the 5 o'clock club. Here's a link to give you some background, but the general gist of the "club" is women who rise early to serve their families better and sit at the feet of Jesus in the morning. I have been striving to serve my family better all school year, and this is the next step that I easily ignored when I read Carolyn Mahaney's book Feminine Appeal.

So last night, I set my cell phone alarm for 5:00 and excitedly picked out my alarm ringtone. When the alarm went off, my flesh fought and fought, for about an hour, that I should just go back to bed. What was I going to do with all that time? The first thing I did (and this is straight from the blog) is go the bathroom, then go to the kitchen and fix myself a cup of Tazo Calm tea (I've quit coffee now for about 3 weeeks). I sat on the living room couch and drank my tea, illuminated only by the Christmas lights surrounding our nativity. And I just sat. And there were moments where all I wanted was to go back to bed. Moments where I almost admitted defeat. But I told myself to stick it out and see what happened.

Adam's alarm rings at 5:20 every morning. He got up right away when his alarm went off, and the morning gets pretty mundane from there.

But....

I never in a million years would have guessed how blessed HE would be by my getting up so early. He was so appreciative of me being up with him in the dark morning, eating breakfast with him and helping him print off some worksheets for school this morning while he was in the shower. I never realized what a burden it was for him to have to find the time to wake me up as he was leaving for school. Today, he left early and will probably have a much better, more well prepared day because of it. What an amazing way to start off my husband's day, and I didn't even originally think about that as a caveat for waking up early. God is gracious where I am weak, and I am definitely weak in the area of sleeping.

The next step, of course, is to try to be productive during this morning time, instead of just sitting with my body in sleep shell shock. But one step at a time. I did have time to write this post, after all. I want to challenge you today to consider the Girl Talk 5 o'clock club. Try it once and see if God doesn't bless you for it. I used to think people were nuts who got up before the absolute last second they had to. Now, I'm starting to see that this time could be very valuable to my communion with God, my husband and myself. Soli Deo Gloria.

P.S. After Adam left this morning, he sent me a text: Best morning ever. Enough said.