Rising early

Christ is Risen!

I want to focus on Proverbs 31:15 ... I will give several versions ...

15: She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.
~~She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household and plan the day's work for her servant girls.
~~She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and tasks for her maidens.
~~She riseth also while it is yet night, And giveth food to her household, And their task to her maidens.
~~And she riseth while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and the day's work to her maidens.

As I've gotten older I have come to realize the wisdom in this verse. Arising early. It means going to bed early or else being tired. Just like last night when I tried to go to bed right at 9 but life happened. I got in bed just after 1030 ... translation, I didn't get up until 6 cause I just couldn't get my body moving. This gave me just enough time to get ready for school this morning. And because of my lack of having a place to put my keys each time I come in the door, I spent 15-20 minutes searching for them and was a bit late to class.

What about the other part of the verse... well I learned from another wise woman how to have it work for us. "and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens." or "She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and tasks for her maidens." - we make breakfast for our household (which is easy in this household since it is fruit and maybe some vegan milk & cereal since we aren't 100% raw vegan again yet). But who are our maidens? Why our dishwasher and washing machine, of course! They start washing for us so that we may concentrate on other things - like devotions and prayers :) This is the thing I want to really concentrate on doing again. My goal is 5 am ... which in reality isn't too early. Lots of people get up that early to leave for work by 6. If I can get to where I can get up at 5 consistently (which means getting in bed by 9 consistently) then I will feel pretty good about this. I'm always more productive in the mornings and it is such a great feeling to be prepared for my family when they awaken (or are awakened!). Life runs much more smoothly when things are prepared ahead of time.

Well, the children are slowly getting ready this morning. I really wanted to leave by 10 but apparently that isn't going to happen - looks like by 1030 at the latest though... not too bad.