Mornings or Evenings Speaks A Lot About You:
I’m a morning person. Not as early of a riser as I once was, but when I do get up, I’m ready to get life moving. To go. To be. Whether that’s devotions, reading, studying, going somewhere, or even working! Get up early and get after it!
In my early days of online school, I accomplished a lot between 5-7 a.m. and still feel refreshed to face the day. I have never been good at the end of the day after long hours spent doing. That’s my downtime: rest, relaxation, and lots of recovery. (R.R.R.)
This is not to say I cannot be my best in only one zone and not the other.
When something requires my best, I am determined to give it my best. That takes a lot of concentration when the day is winding down and very little when the day is starting.
Recent articles describe our Peak time as when we get the most accomplished when we understand what our Circadian rhythm does for us. What’s a Circadian rhythm? No. It’s not a music group. It’s that concept of being at rest, knowing when rest starts and ends, and what our body does with the rhythm.
Regardless of a morning or evening person,
these rhythms fluctuate our physiological processes,
including our alertness, heart rate, and even body temperature.
Some studies even suggest it affects our intellectual functioning also.
For me, and I come back to this time, and again, I would just as soon get up early and get my day started with whatever routine I choose than lounge around late at night, pushing sleep time from p.m. to the a.m. The morning is the quietest time in our household and has always been the most peaceful time when you get up before everyone else!
What’s optimal for you? Studies suggest that our best performances come at the optimal time when we can give a task our best attention. I know this is when I have fewer distractions, or at least I do not notice them.
Here’s My Thought
What do you need to do to get the best performance for the most crucial task of your life? If you know your circadian rhythm, you are at least on the cusp of understanding whether you should focus on essential things in one zone of the day versus the other.
The morning is my best time if I need to read something important. I was immediately following my waking-up routine, of course. If I need to have some deep relaxation time, then that’s what my evenings are for, and most of my reading is casual.
But think about all the important things that must be left to end our busy schedule.
When do you find the best times to have quiet time with God?
Repeatedly, we see Jesus leaving the others and going to a quiet place to pray. He spent his days “working the crowds,” teaching, healing, and touching the vital part of his life. But we also find that his apparent recuperative times were spent alone. In the evening, away from everyone, the Bible says he prayed. Away from everyone and everything, even his disciples…
Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat
and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away.
And when He had sent the multitudes away,
He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray.
Now when evening came, He was alone there.
(Matthew 14:22-23 NKJV)
Notice. He sends everyone away and retreats to the mountain. Alone time. Prayer time.
What Does Alone TIme Do?
I know what it means to be alone, and I get what it does for me. It’s marshaling my strength for the future and undoing the tenseness of the past. I prefer spending my quiet time before church getting ready for the service. Give it my all. Then spend quiet time afterward undoing the stresses of the day.
Jesus was God-robed in the flesh, but he wasn’t a “superhero.” God became flesh to understand us and do what we couldn’t do for ourselves.
Before every big decision or personal challenge,
Jesus was away from others to find a place and time of prayer.
It was in Gethsemane that he prayed late at night before his arrest. (Matthew 26:36) It was an all-night time of prayer before he named his disciples and apostles. (Luke 6:12-13) He has a place and rhythm of prayer known by his disciples. (Luke 22:39-41).
Perhaps what is more important about our life than knowing our peak performance, we should have a place and time that is more common to us for prayer. Alone time. No distractions. A place of quiet. Seclusion.
Personality: Morning or Evening: Perhaps what is more important about our life than knowing our peak performance, we should have a place and time that is more common to us for prayer. Alone time. No distractions. A place of quiet.… Click To TweetHow about you? Where’s your prayer place? And what is your prayer time?