Week Two

Building our foundations, one morning at a time.

^{We covered a lot of ground this week! I closed the week re-reading Peter's letter in the Message version, which always helps me to highlight different passages. As you welcome the weekend go in grace and peace with these thoughts on your heart:}

^v2 ... Not one is missing, not one forgotten. God the Father has his eye on each of you, and has determined by the work of the Spirit to keep you obedient through the sacrifice of Jesus. May everything good from God be yours!

^{v 8-11} Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up. You're not the only ones plunged into these hard times. ...So keep a firm grip on the faith. The suffering won't last forever. It won't be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ—eternal and glorious plans they are!—will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, he does.

Enjoy your weekend - make space for Sabbath rest - find blessings to count and treasure - and wait in anticipation for God's "last word"!

Congratulations!

You Completed Week One of the 

Hello Mornings Challenge.

Are your mornings looking like this?

Or are they running a little more like this?

Hebrews 12:1 - Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

James 1:4 - Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Staying with it may be hard but the reward will be great. Please don't give up. There are 20 of us here to support you within our Facebook community. Thank you for sharing the joys of your process as well as your honest frustrations and set backs. We can do this - together. As you persevere in turning your first thoughts and movements to God you will find it becomes not only easier but that is is life giving.  I'm praying in advance that your weekend will be filled with moments that take your breath away (in a good way!) as you experience God's presence with you in your daily activities. Make a memory this weekend! 

GO!

This is it!

Fall 2012 Hello Mornings Challenge

We are no longer in countdown mode - we are off and running. We are committed to taking control of our mornings by meeting with God, moving our bodies, and setting the stage for a day lived with intention. We are also going to show grace towards ourselves and one another as we face the real obstacles that will present themselves. This is not about a perfect record, it's about incremental change! 

Jennie and I will be here each day to check in with you and we are counting on you to help hold us accountable too! We'll be praying for each of you in your unique situation. Let's Go!

Before We Go

This weekend as we move toward our official challenge launch on Monday I'd like to suggest that you clear space in your head and heart by sitting quietly with God for a few minutes each morning.

"True silence is the rest of the mind; and is to the spirit, what sleep is to the body; nourishment and refreshment." (William Penn)

Don't fret about your Bible reading or journaling or intercessory prayer...just sit in silence with God. For some of us this is a very, very hard practice - for others it's a place we find ourselves drawn to easily. No matter where you are on that spectrum find just a few minutes to quiet your inner space. Remember the feeling of a little one snuggling up and resting in your arms, completely at ease? Be that little one with God. Rest in Him. Listen for His whisper of love to you. 

May your weekend  be blessed with recognition of the abundance in your life, with joy in your relationships and with His perfect peace over all your moments. See you Monday morning!

....Get Set...

Just as I make lists and plan in preparation for a trip (my husband can pack in under 5 minutes, I'm lucky to get packed in under a day!) it's helpful for us to plan for our launch of the Hello Mornings Challenge. Here are just a couple of ideas that may be helpful for you.

• Get your bible and any devotional you are planning to use and place it near your bed, or better yet in your sacred space that you'll be using for your early morning quiet times.

• Organize your exercise equipment and clothes so they are ready to go. For me it's a matter of setting out the exercise band I'm using for some physical therapy for my shoulder (I can do this in my robe). On alternate days I'll be taking a walk so I'll need shorts and a top, shoes and socks, and probably my iPod.

• If you want to use music, candles, have a cup of tea, etc...get those items all set up so you are not scrounging around at early o-clock trying to find stuff. That's a great way to suffer a setback.

• For the planning part of our mornings you might need a calendar, notepad, your to-do list...I know lots of us use electronic means for planning and I'll let you decide if you have the willpower to ONLY look at your planning materials..if you think Facebook and Words With Friends might creep in then start out by using good old fashioned paper and a gorgeous pen in a fun color...you can find a time slot later in the day (while you are waiting for someone to make their move in WWF) to update your electronic stuff.

• Last but certainly not least...the alarm clock. Find it, set it, give it a little polish and try to think of it as a friend.

Praying blessings over you as you set the stage for our great mornings!

Awake, my soul! ...I will awaken the dawn.          Psalm 57:8

I'm adding a link to a great article "First Things First, Making the Most of your Morning" by David Mathis, in which he quotes George Muller as follows:

. . . it is as plain to me as anything that the first thing the child of God has to do morning by morning is to obtain food for the inner man. As the outward man is not fit for work for any length of time, except we take food, and as this is one of the first things we do in the morning, so it should be with the inner man. . . .

How different when the soul is refreshed and made happy early in the morning, from what it is when, without spiritual preparation, the service, the trials, and the temptations of the day come upon one!

You'll have to read the article if you wish to glean the rest of the pearls of wisdom it offers! 

Get Ready to get set to go - Warm Up #4

Getting to know you...as we get ready to go!

In order to cheer you on and for us to grow together, it will help if we know a little about each other. It's perfectly ok if you feel like you need to wait a bit to share...but if you are ready please post on the Facebook  page (you can click the underlined "Facebook" and it will take you right there!) and tell us who you are. Married? Single? Kids? Ages? Do you know the people in this photo? Really, if that is your husband and your boys...well...good for you! See, kids love it when their parents spend time in the Word! 

Don't those boys look happy?

If would be wonderful to hear some of the answers to the "why" homework - what is motivating you to take the challenge, what is the hardest part of it, what are you hoping to gain?

Inspired to Action asked me to describe myself with only 5 words - which was a huge challenge for me and of course I'm not really happy with the five I chose (mom, grandma, cook, sojourner, shopper). I'm bothered that I didn't chose "wife" or "God's Daughter", my oldest daughter chose "shopper" for me which is true, but I'm not sure that's how I really want to be known. Truth is, "Sojourner" is the best fit....I'm sorta wandering through life looking for truth and leaning on truth and I'd love to share the journey with you.

So, tell us who you are!

Get ready to get set to go - Warm Up # 3

It's Friday! 

Have you been getting up 5 minutes early? 

Let the Olympic athletes inspire you to exert the discipline required to open your eyes and remove your body from your bed, to move your body in just one way that is different today, and to visualize the one thing you will accomplish today. Say hello to God before you speak to anyone else and lay your day before him. Just the act of offering your worship through your daily activities will set the stage for a day of grace. He IS in the small things...as you bathe a child or prepare a meal for your family, as you work in your garden or bring your best to your employer and clients. Today is a new day and we give thanks to the Lord! 

Something to consider...will you continue the challenge on weekends? Sundays? Is there a way to incorporate a family devotion time on the weekend in place of your early morning practice? What a wonderful way for a family to start a Saturday morning- perhaps a short walk around your yard, sharing a verse from the bible and talking about what you hope to accomplish that day.  

Remember to give yourself grace!
Blessings,
Karen

Sharing from the Inspired to Action Blog:

Being a Morning Ninja is Easier Than You Think…

The idea of waking up early enough to have a Bible study time, plan the day AND exercise can be overwhelming. You might think that you need to suddenly start setting your alarm for an hour earlier to get all done. Here’s some good news: You don’t.

The goal is simply to wake up early enough to have a “warm up” for the day. Just as all the Olympic athletes arrive at their event early so that they can talk with their coach, stretch, and get in the zone, we need to do the same for our families.

Maximizing your mornings with Bible study time, daily planning and exercise, is not as hard as you might think. It can actually be done in about 5-10 minutes a day and with minimal effort.

(Not that speed or minimal effort are a goal, of course. But if perfection is keeping you from getting started, know that starting simply is better than not starting at all.)

The key is to use simple starts in each area to get your momentum going. Once you have developed the habits of daily Bible study, planning and exercise, you’ll find it easy to go deeper in each area.

To read the tips and the remainder of this article please click the link below:
3 Incredibly Simple Ways to Maximize Your Mornings

To check in with your "coach" (me) contact me via this blog or our Facebook Group.

Get Ready...

Remember the anticipation you felt as a kid when someone called out "Ready, Set, Go" and a foot race commenced? You focused your hearing, your heart picked up speed, your body tensed as you waited to hear "Go!" and spring forward into the race.

Hearing the word "Challenge" and having a start date (August 20th) has me just a teeny bit excited and in anticipation of the official start of our fall commitment to rising earlier and starting our days with God. It's hard to wait for good things! It's sorta like getting a new diary in December...ah the long wait until January 1st so you can start writing in it!

So let's start now to prepare for our fall challenge. We had a homework assignment asking us to consider why we were participating and to share some of our thoughts in our Facebook Group (which is closed to all others - only members of that group can see what you post. There are still a few ladies in the group who have not made their full commitment to the challenge and I want to give them some time to decide. After August 20th I will delete anyone who is not registered from the group).

I think considering "why" is a good way to more fully commit to the process. If there are elements that seem scary or hard I hope you will feel safe to share those concerns. We come with a wide variety of backgrounds and can encourage and affirm each other if we are open and honest. Part of getting ready is addressing fears, strengthening our resolve, and praying for ourselves and our sisters..

Father as your daughters get "ready" to build our days from the morning out, we pray to you for our hearts to be open and teachable, for our misgivings and wills to be submitted to you, for the excitement of beginning anew to be contagious to everyone in our group. Give us a deep desire to meet with you. We love and praise you and it is our joy to serve you. Amen.

"Why"

I spend most of my days with a 3 year old who says "why" all day long, to everything. I really don't recall my kids doing this and I swear it's about to drive me to distraction. So that's my excuse as to "WHY" it has taken me so long to do this simple homework assignment and share it!

Fill your WHY Reminder with visual and written reminders of WHY you are doing this. 

• List all the reasons WHY you want to Maximize Your Mornings. 

1. Over the years I've learned that if I don't start the day with a plan it slips by...and over the years way too many days have slipped through my fingers. They are gone forever.
2. I'm in a new season of my life and need to be focused and productive.
3. I have some health issues that limit my stamina and energy, so I'd better make the most of mornings! By afternoon I'm crispy!
4. I want my time and talents to Glorify God.

• List the benefits - to you, your children, your husband and your future.

1. The stronger and closer my relationship with God is, the stronger and closer all my relationships can be.
2. I'll be more at peace, feel better physically, and feel successful.
3. I think building a slightly different morning habit will lead to building other good habits...which should enrich my future

• Clip photos, quotes and stories that inspire
• My Pinterest board: http://pinterest.com/pdxkaren/hello-mornings-challenge/
• I bought a Beta fish a few years ago and named it "Why" (or maybe it was "Y") because everyone in my family kept asking me WHY I bought a fish.

• Make a morning mp3 playlist.

• I prefer instrumental music for quiet times as the words distract me - so I like Andrew Burchett, David Nevue, and any worship music.

• Picture your perfect morning and write it down.

• I wake up rested and not in pain. I spend as long as I want listening and talking to God, meditating on His word, listening to lovely music and sipping really good coffee. The weather is nice - sunshine, soft breeze, cute little critters outside. A beautiful breakfast tray with a no-calorie cinnamon roll, fresh cantaloupe and berries, some crispy bacon and more wonderful coffee shows up at my chair. All the laundry is done and I have a really cute outfit all set to wear. My hair looks great. My toes polish themselves.  Oh and I am sitting at the beach in Hawaii. : ) 

Honokowai - Maui

Get ready to get set to go - Warm Up #2

EAT THE WORD!

How sweet are Your words to my taste! Sweeter than honey to my mouth! (Psalm 119:103)

Your words were found and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts. (Jeremiah 15:16)

But He answered and said, It is written, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)

And have tasted the good word of God… (Hebrews 6:5)

Our weekly email from Inspired to Action will contain a bible study you may choose to use for your morning time with God. I've heard through the grapevine that we'll study 1 Peter. While we are warming up I'd like to suggest a couple of simple ways to get "into" the Word in those small bites we discussed in Warm Up #1.

Choose a Psalm and read it each morning for our first week. Choose a new Psalm for the second training week. I'm partial to Psalm 1, 8, 23, 62, and 84.

Read one chapter of Proverbs (there are 31 so you can choose the one whose number coincides with the date)

Choose a Scripture based devotional such as Jesus Calling.

Choose one scripture you'd like to memorize and use your two minutes to study and meditate on it. A few ideas:

Psalm 27:4 or 25:4-5

Jeremiah 29:11-13

Micah 6:8

Matthew 11:28-30

1 Corinthians 2:9

2 Corinthians 5:17

Romans 8:28

See? Easy Peasy...you can do this!

Get ready to get set to go - Warm Up #1

We've got a couple of weeks before our fall challenge officially begins so as we get to know each other I thought it would be wise to slowly warm our "muscles" (self-discipline, spiritual, physical)

Maybe you are gal who already gets up before the roosters and does an inductive bible study as you power through the Bible in 78 days, followed by a 10 mile run and a Zumba class, after which you pull out your iPhone and set your hourly agenda for the day....good for you! (Why are you with us again?) For the rest of us I'd like to suggest that from August 6-10 (that gives you a few days to get used to this idea) we start out something like this:

Get up 5 FIVE minutes earlier than you normally do

1. Spend 2 minutes saying hello to God, reading a verse over a few times and thinking about it - sort of enjoy it the way you do a really good piece of chocolate, and then sit quietly and listen. If your mind jumps ahead ...find a word or phrase you can repeat to bring you back to stillness. Maybe something like "I'm here God", or "Spirit fill me"... Take small bites and chew slowly.
2. Spend 1 minute moving. Stretch, bend, walk up and down your stairs, do a sit up or two.
3. Spend 1 minute deciding 1 thing you want to accomplish today. Just one. Make it a doable one (no you can't choose "learn French" or "clean the garage")

The article below is copied from the Inspired to Action blog and gives some helpful tips on building a new habit, but I've shortened the time frame for our purposes because I want you to be a success! You can come back to the 15 minute model on August 20th if you think you are ready for it.

Hello Mornings - Free Personal Training from God!

We still have room in our Pacific time zone group for several more women. Our group has young moms, medium moms, grannies and even a woman of wisdom who has 8 decades of life experience to draw from.  If you want to join our group you MUST sign up by August 20th using this link. We are a Facebook based group but I'm willing to use email for anyone who prefers to not use Facebook - you will just miss out on the group conversations. Message me for more information. 

I promise you that taking even the tiniest baby steps in this process will have a huge impact on your daily life.