Mornings!

Happy Friday to all!

We definitely enjoyed having our 3rd overnight visitor to our home last night. A friend who lived on the same hall as Dustin last year needed a place last night (dorms are still closed), so we loved having him on our not-fancy-but-sleepable air mattress. Since our house is... um... cozy, I had to tiptoe to not wake up sleeping Dustin in one room and sleeping Tim in the other. No problem! Anyway, long story short, I got ready REALLY fast by flashlight and here I am, EARLY, the first one to school in a very large building (semi-scary, by the way, so I have Sandra McCracken in the background for company), settling in to start the day. (Happy Friday and Date Night Day, by the way)

How do you start your days? Piper calls them "morning fights" and anyone who has midnight feedings with babies (not me, but I always think about those moms), early morning jobs, or 7:00's or 8:00's in college or seminary can truly attest to the fact that it's a war. Or, at first, anyway. Anything's easier with time, right? Maybe. Cooking's getting easier with time. And fun. My kids are getting the hang of division. Despite their Math teacher. Learning my way around Louisville's much easier now.

With the "Resolutions" (on normal mornings), Dustin and I have been setting our breakfast table at night. I read that in a magazine somewhere. We have it all set up to where it makes me laugh. We have this system we started and we try to remember everything from planners (with the day's tasks or birthdays to remember) and sugar for our coffee to our vitamins waiting for us in our empty breakfast bowls. But there you have our Bibles/journals, right next to our place settings. We eat and then Dustin leads us in reading together and then individually, then pack lunches, and then get ready. New rules to be up by 5 and out by 6:30. And I don't say this to brag (it's only day 5 and today was flashlight morning), but to my shame. Last quarter, I was an inconsistent MESS with the mornings. And, of course, it affects the entire day to some degree. I stayed up too late, so I slept in to late. I think I was late 3 times to our Thursday morning teacher devotions. Out of control. Stay up too late. Sleep in too late. It's not rocket science. Bad habits. Wasting time. Lack of self-control. You know? So, I'm working on it now and it's going so well THIS week, but what about next week. It's scary to think I could revert back. Erin and I were recently discussing the FREEDOM of discipline and self-control.

I remember a few things as I strive for a balanced view of how a disciplined life should look. I tend towards legalism if I strive for anything disciplined. Or secret and ugly pride. Or a Martha (distracted by much serving) mindset that never stops and sits and worships. I didn't mean to get personal with this though, so let's go to the general.

I used to do these morning prompts on Fridays, for whoever happened to stumble along my posts. They were kind of fun, because you guys are way more word-savvy and wise and insightful!

Here's the morning prompt:

How do you maintain a disciplined life while avoiding the pitfall of legalism or a rut of duty-driven routines? Furthermore, what very practical ways do you (or even just HAVE you in the past) discipline your mornings (or afternoons or evenings or whatnot)? Not just in the Word, but with your homes. Or balancing work with family, with the proper emphasis on the family? Am I making any sense?

Feel free to comment.


**Oh... head to http://girltalk.blogs.com/girltalk/2007/01/righting_wrong_.html for more about keeping your resolutions with the right motive.