Trying to Start a New Routine...Again

 I  have always been a morning person. I like the early mornings.  I don't like the alarm going off at 5:30 (which it did for the entire last year I was at Ivy Tech). But I do like to be awake and up and moving and accomplishing things before 9:00.

Why is it that 9:00 seems like a transition hour to me?  I feel like if I can accomplish things before 9, then I am off to a good start.  If I get started after 9, then I feel like the morning is over and it will soon be lunchtime, and the day is shot.

And it isn't shot at 9:00!  Why would it be?  But that is a feeling I have.

After I read Lysa Terkeurst's post on FB the other day, I decided I needed to make some changes.  One of those is getting up earlier.

Monday I was out early to weed the flower beds and it felt so good to be outside.  Fresh air.  It was so still. I could hear the traffic on the Hoosier Heartland and the whistles of the trains that seemed to pass by, one after the other (and sometimes in different directions on that one track!).  

Tuesday was a haircut appointment and that led to a busy day, one that was reflective, and as I told Gary, made me realize one more time how glad I was that we had moved. As I drove around Pulaski County, I just wanted to go home.

Wednesday was a trip into Kohls to pick up a sleeping bag set for Owen's birthday gift.  I know I didn't HAVE to go in that morning, that I had time to get it, but I wanted to be sure that I had it or had time to find another one.  I learned two things - one is that even though an app will tell you that an item is in stock at a store, it probably isn't (oh wait!  I have learned that many times during the summer, haven't I? - swings, trampolines) and two is that if one is IN the Kohls store, an item can be ordered and delivered to one's home without a shipping fee.  But this only works if the item is ordered IN the store.  So I guess it was worth the trip in to order it from my phone while I was standing next to the kiosk which didn't work.    Then we drove to Noblesville and I shared all of those events in my post yesterday.

This morning I was awake a little before 6 and opted to just turn off the alarm for 6:45 and start the day on my own.  It was still dark, but the house was quiet (as it always is unless the kiddos are here) and conducive to the early morning Bible study.

This time I gathered my Jesus Calling book, my journal, my Bible, and I sat on the blue couch in the family room instead of the recliner.  Today's devotions was about healing (which I still need emotionally) and intimacy with Jesus.  Rhonda and I have talked about that before ---intimacy with Jesus---and how we struggle with that term in relationship to God.  I am trying to grasp that concept.  But I do understand the healing and I think I noticed something.  When I wrote in my journal this morning, I said I still had the emotional scars from Mom.  Notice the word.  Scars.  Not wounds.  Scars.  There is a difference. I think that is significant.  

Now it is nearly 7:30.  I have completed the devotions from Jesus Calling, the journal for today, reading the Bible verses, the devotions I post with Rhonda, and posted in the daily thread for DWLZ.  The washer is in the spin cycle for the first load of the day.  I am sitting here looking at the sewing room and knowing I need to go in there and finish sewing on the binding on another quilt.    Checking behind me I notice daylight. 

Time to move to the next step.  I think the new day has started---and it isn't 9:00 yet!