Why I love getting up early for scripture study and what I do.

I recently wrote two posts on the change I experienced from scripture study and how I came to get up at 5am to study. If you enjoy this post you’ll want to check those out it you haven’t already!

I grew up in a home with 15 people. My parents had five children then adopted 8 more. They didn’t do it because they had lots of money or a big fancy house.

Our home was literally out in the middle of no where but it was a beautiful no where. They purchased it because it was only  $35,000 and came with 26 acres of stunning mountain land.  The house originally was one open room of no more than 1000 sq. ft but it did have a loft. Over time my parents added on rooms. I was especially excited when a bathroom was added on! No more bathing at the KOA 30 miles away or in the horse trough out back, but that’s another story. 

Shortly after we got a bathroom my 5 sisters from India joined the family.  It was very tight living with 4 girls in one bedroom and 3 in the other. We survived that though. What was especially hard as we got older was the fact that we only had 1 working shower.  Yes, you read that right, ONE SHOWER for 15 people 8 of them girls who liked their showers!  

If I wanted a shower before school I had to get up by 6am.  If I wanted a WARM shower I had to get up at 5am.  We had a small hot water tank that lasted for about 3 showers. You could wait 30 minutes for water heat up again but you’d have to be happy with luke warm. Problem was, if you waited that long someone would always jump in front of you.  So much for that!

After years of  horse trough bathing I was willing to get up at 5am for a warm shower ESPECIALLY in the winter.  Why?  Because we had no central heating in the house. 

To heat the home during the day my parents designed the additions to our house with floor to ceiling windows that faced south. It got plenty warm on a sunny day in New Mexico. For the nights we had a wood burning stove. My bedroom was far enough from the wood stove that not much heat reached me. It was one of the southern facing rooms but when the sun went down it got cold quickly. 

The windows were great for letting the heat in but they were also great for letting the cold in.  By the time I would wake in the morning what little heat that came from the stove was completely gone.  It was so cold that often there was a layer on frost on the windows that could be scraped off.  Did I clarify?  That frost was on the INSIDE of my windows. IT WAS COLD!  Yeah, I would guess we probably didn’t have energy efficient windows. 

That warm shower was like heaven after jumping out of a warm bed, darting across cold brick floors and having to get completely undressed as I watched the moisture from my breath freeze. I won’t talk about how cold it was to sit down on the toilet seat, but I guess I just did. 

Yep, getting up at 5am for a warm shower was absolutely worth the sacrifice of sleep. 

Now, imagine doing all that and jumping into a COLD shower instead!   If there was a time I accidentally slept in I would shower in record time not entirely sure if I was 100% clean. I’m sitting here shivering as I remember trying to rinse the shampoo out of my hair without letting the cold water hit my scalp or the rest of my body.

Have you ever tried to do that in a cold shower? It doesn’t work very well, especially when you can’t feel your fingers doing the rinsing in the first place. By the time I was done goose bumps that looked more like angry pimples covered every inch of my body. My lips would turn a light purplish-blue. I love the color purple, just not on my lips. 

Up until a couple years ago 75% of  my scripture reading was like that cold shower in winter, but it was totally ok because I didn’t realize it. The quick cold shower got the job done. The quick study at the end of the day got the job done. I was able to check off my scripture study box.  I didn’t know what I was missing, so no harm done.   

When I finally acted on promptings to get at 5am to study, ponder, journal, and pray it was like stepping into a glorious hot shower on a cold morning, warming me from head to toe. So wonderful that I didn’t want to get out.

I am grateful for the Lord’s mercy and how he magnifies the effort we do give as He patiently waits for us to SEE and step into that warm shower. It wasn’t until a few years ago that the Spirit made it abundantly clear that it was time to improve my scripture study so I know the Lord was making up for what I lacked before then.  ****I’ll take a second here for a disclaimer, if you are a mother in the thick of nursing, diapers, and toddlers, just do what you can. There is no way on earth I could have survived getting up at 5am to study at that time in my life. If you somehow are doing it, more power to ya super woman!****

Why is getting up early for scripture study so great?

At 5am there isn’t much to distract you.

No one is going to text, call or message you, unless they are insane like you and get up at 5am.

It is still dark so you can’t really see the dishes in your sink or the collection of dirty socks all over the floor that you’ve told your sons a million times to please pick up. 

You haven’t reached the “end of the day” mental shutdown.

The kids are still asleep (hopefully) so there is no, “Mom, can I..?” Or “Mom, will you…” Or “Why?!” “ NO?!” “Give it back!”

And I’ve never checked but I doubt there is any worth while TV programming at 5am to tempt you unless you want to start a Netflix marathon at that time for some reason. 

Ohhhhh the sweet peace!!! 

Now that I know what that warm shower of scripture study feels like I can see how much my cold shower study was lacking.  If for some reason I don’t get up early I always tell myself I’ll still get a good study in. The reality is that I end up with my quick cold shower study or skipping it all together. 

Every time I try to study more than 15 minutes during the day, it’s like the sun shining through the windows keeps telling me all I should be getting done while the kids are in school. Should I read my scriptures or should I put away that pile of laundry that I have to step over 10 times a day? Wait, I can’t remember if it is clean. Have dirty clothes have gotten mixed in? Should I sniff each piece to check if it is clean or dirty? Sheesh, it takes a lot of will power to stay focused. You know what I’m talking about moms! As soon as the sun is up we are multi-tasking!

There is just something about the still of the morning the lets our thoughts be still so we can actually hear that “still” small voice. 

*****Disclaimer #2. You don’t have to get up at 5am to improve your scripture study so don’t you dare leave this post feeling guilt.

Got it?! I WON’T be having that.  

I do it because that is what the Spirit told me I need to do and now I can see why it was necessary for me. Ask in prayer how you can improve and you’ll get the answer for YOU. If your answer is to get up at 5am, my condolences to the death of your glorious sleeping in.******

5am or not, here are some ideas from what I do in my scripture study and the differences I’ve noticed in my life.

Prayer

I pray out loud without worry about someone hearing me. If anyone ever heard me it would certainly give away my deep secret that I actually am a crazy person. Wait, did you already figure that out?

Anyhow, thats how I start. Wait, no,  first I start by putting my cell phone way out of reach so that when my alarm goes off I have no choice but to get out of the bed. That is my biggest battle. On second thought, I begin by winding down starting at 9pm the night before so I can be asleep by 10pm and get a full 7 hrs of sleep.   Yes, I have to sacrifice some of my previous evening routines so I can get to bed early enough. I’d say giving up a night of watching my favorite show or doing dinner clean up for a morning of being washed over by the Spirit is a pretty darn good trade though. 

Ok, wind down at 9pm, put cell phone out of reach, kneel down to pray out loud…

I have noticed a significant change in my prayers since getting up early. There is no rush so I can take time to talk about whatever I want. I pray out loud when I’m driving around or when I go for a walk but there is something to kneeling down at the beginning of the day to talk with my Heavenly Father. After the prayer I can go straight to reading scripture to get answers. My conversation continues as I read and write. 

I express my feelings in clarity.  (Well, 5am clarity.) I ask a lot more questions. I ask for the Spirit to be with me. I stop to listen and ponder. I smile more. My legs start to go numb so have to shift.  

I remember timing myself when I was a young girl to see how long I could pray, I got to 5 minutes and was disappointed because I felt like it was at least 10!!! Now I can easily get past that, not that I’m counting.

Scripture Study

After my prayer I usually turn to my scriptures unless something has come to my mind that I need to get down before I forget.  

Sometimes I have a set study plan but mostly I have a few different options so I can be open to what the Lord might have me study that day. He knows what I need to learn so it makes sense to let Him guide me in that. If something other that what I was planning to study comes to my mind I just go with it. 

Remember how I mentioned I ask a lot more questions in my prayers?  That  profoundly influences my study. I ask any questions I can think of from what to do for one of my children, to how I can overcome something, to a point of doctrine I’d like to understand more.   The cool thing about asking specific questions is that it gives the Lord an opportunity to answer them. Goodness, you feel so loved and listened to when the Lord answers. The miracle of it all is how often the Lord will answer, EVERY TIME. Line upon line He will teach if we only ask. 

Journaling

That leads me to the next part of my study. I go to my journal I have named “Line upon Line.”  I type my question or the topic I was pondering and I write the answer, impressions, and knowledge the Lord gave me. I use the “Day One” journaling app and I love it because I can create multiple journals in one place. I can also tag each entry with keywords and easily search and find past entires and topics. I can’t tell you how cool it is to be able to look back and see how each day the Lord built upon the last thing He taught me. 

Want a little inside scoop?  Almost all the ideas of what to write here on this blog come to me during that early morning time with my Heavenly Father.   

Planning my day

Sometimes I get my bullet journal out to plan out my day asking the Lord for guidance to use my time wisely and see if there is anything He would have me do that day.  Every now and then I actually follow through.   If something significant has come to my mind that I need to do over time or another day I add it to my journal titled “God’s to do list.”  It is so fun to check those off!  Some might be there until I die!

Reminders

It is hard to say what part of my morning routine is my favorite because I love it all but if I had to choose….

I have running journal entry that lists important reminders about myself and my purpose. It includes some scriptures that feel like they were written just for me, a list of my spiritual gifts, words from my patriarchal blessing, my purpose statement and any thing that has been a pivotal personal revelation to me. I read through these as often as I can to help me keep my focus amid the myriad of daily distractions. 

SOoooooo what do you think?  That I am a goodie two shoes?

I worried about how I might come across as I wrote this. I would die if anyone assumed I am perfect when it came to scripture study and that what I TRY to do is all just too overwhelming and unrealistic. 

 Oh please don’t think that!   

This has been such a journey of trial and error for me and I still have far to go. There has NEVER been a day that I have been able to do everything I listed perfectly.  I feel good if I get one part right.

Please just take one step on your journey. The most important thing is that you:

Lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his love. 

Jacob 3:2 Book of Mormon

Is there one idea here that you would like to implement to improve your relationship with Christ?  Have you been feeling like you should get up earlier and this gives you the courage and motivation to do so?  Do you have no intention of getting up early but you just want some ideas to improve your study?

I hope something has spoken to your heart that you can do today.  Whatever you do, no more cold showers!!!  Jump in the warm shower people and let it wash over you!

Do you have any questions? What has worked for you in your current prayer, study, or journaling?  I’d love for everyone to share their ideas!!!! If you found this post helpful please share the love!

You might also like my two posts on the change I experienced from scripture study and how I came to get up at 5am to study.