Early in the Morning

Are you more productive late at night or early in the morning?

At the Lamplighter Guild last summer, we tried an experiment with our students. We started each day at 6:15 a.m. As the sun rose, you could see students and teachers praying and in the Word dotted around the landscape; meeting in gazebos on the cliffs, along the lake, and in the gardens.

Our early morning time was the training ground where students prepared for battle. Often times in Christianity we spend more time in retreat than advance. There are plenty of opportunities for recreation and restoring the soul, but life as presented in the Bible is pictured as a battle. And as soldiers we need to live life with vigilance.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. ~Ephesians 6:12

We also learned that this extra effort gave back some unexpected dividends. Rather than time flying by, it was if time had stopped and we were able to accomplish more in a few days than we would have expected to accomplish in a weeks time. As I study the lives of great innovators and inventors, I see a common thread of early rising. I am not saying that one cannot accomplish great things by staying up late, but often sleeping in is the result of a lack of self-discipline.

As I study the lives of Abraham, Moses, and Joshua, I see they too had early rising in common. In fact, the first two times God gives Moses an assignment he hears these words: “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Rise early in the morning.'” 

For years, my most productive time was late at night. But since I have been deliberately practicing the discipline of going to bed earlier and rising early, my level of productivity has soared. We are commanded to redeem the time, and there’s no better way to start than by redeeming the beginning of the day.

Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.

~Psalm 143:8