When To Get Up And Moving!?

An absolute must is you need to get up before your children. When children are thrown into the mix of your morning, you can’t get nearly as much done. If your children are getting up at random times in the morning, they need to understand there is now a set time for them to leave their room. Our set time is 8 AM on the weekends and days off. That is the absolute earliest they can leave their rooms. All of the other days, I usually wake the kids up so I’m more in control of the time by default.

As long as you know approximately what time your blessings are coming down to the kitchen for breakfast, that should help determine your own personal wake-up time. If you want to avoid morning mayhem, YOU have GOT to get up earlier!

First things first

Keep first things first, and start off with bible reading. An incredible bible study on the Bible app is The Bible Recap. It’s a chronological study of the entire bible done within a year. And every day, Tara-Leigh Cobble does a 5 – 10 minute overview of the passages read via a podcast by the same name. This is pure gold! You can do the Scripture reading in bed and then listen to the podcast as you brush your teeth and shower. And if you listen on 1.5X speed, it’s even faster! BOOM!

Prayer

Next is prayer. Really, prayer should come before bible study to prepare your mind and spirit to receive the Word of God, but more in-depth prayer is also so important! I personally normally do that kind of prayer when I work out in the morning. Praying throughout the day is key, but it’s helpful to have a longer, more focused time of prayer several times a week. And it’s great to be able to use your workout time to be with the LORD. Mastering morning mayhem really can’t happen without it.

Creating an ACTIVE routine

I usually run, so to be honest, my mind can wander quite a bit when I’m run-praying. It helps me tremendously to go by the ACTS acronym – Adulation, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication. This isn’t to be used dogmatically, but rather to help stay focused on prayer.

Adulation or praise to the LORD is a must to be kept first. I remember someone telling me how when you start off your prayers by praising God for Who He is, it puts the rest of your prayer in perspective. Remind yourself Who He is with a time of adulation. Confession is important because we know that our sin separates us from God. So by calling our sin what it is and repenting of it, we are freed from it. Thanksgiving is an easy one to gloss over (or am I the only one??), but don’t! We are to be thankful ALWAYS, even when things are hard. Which as we all know, they will be at one time or another. Guaranteed. And of course, supplication. That part of my prayer takes me a while to get through. There always seems to be a lot to pray for. But that’s OK. He can handle it! And He gives us peace in and through whatever situation we find ourselves in. Asking for what we need in prayer pleases the LORD. If it didn’t, He wouldn’t have specifically told us to do so (Matt 6:5-15).

 Breakfast and lunch

After that is all done, be sure to give yourself enough time to get breakfast ready and lunches prepared. Several parents pre-make lunches the night before, but I prefer making them in the morning. Especially with many more rules in place now for lunchtime routines (i.e. no microwave usage), some lunches need to be warmed up and placed in a thermos anyway. Again, be sure to give yourself enough time for all of the little things! Also, you can always give your kids some responsibility with lunches, even with something as simple as filling up their water bottles and getting their snacks. Every minute counts in the A.M. to reduce mayhem, so if kids can pitch in, fantastic!

All done – now what

Once the kids are off and running to school, whether by bus, on foot, or by car, you’re ready to think about the rest of the day! Now would be a great time to figure out your dinner menu for the week, if you haven’t already planned it. Be sure you have everything you need for all your meals. If not, now’s the perfect time to plan on when you are going to the grocery store ONCE this week.

I know planning a menu sounds so not spontaneous and very old school, but I promise this will save you lots of last-minute trips to the store as you fly by the seat of your pants figuring out what’s for dinner. If you already have it figured out and groceries purchased since you planned ahead, you can just imagine the mental stress you’re avoiding. Besides the fact that this will save you brain space for other things that pop up throughout the week!

MASTER YOUR MORNINGS –  DON’T LET THEM MASTER YOU!