I do not sleep in on any day of the week, except on New Year’s Day. Maybe it’s habit, or maybe it’s because I’m rebelling. I’m not sure which it is, but I do know that it is the only consistent day of the year that I sleep in. 

In some ways it makes sense because I stay up late on New Year’s Eve. However, there are other days throughout the year that I stay up past midnight but still manage to wake up to my 6:00 am alarm.

Being up late is not the reason I sleep in – it’s a conscious decision I make. I decided when I went to bed that I was not going to get up with my alarm … and I didn’t even hear it go off in the morning. 

I am a seven days a week, 6:00 am riser, and have been for decades … but I wasn’t always that way.

When I was in high school I could easily sleep to 11:30 am – on weekends, 12:00 pm was never out of the equation for me.

But sometime as I was approaching my twenties, I changed my thinking. I didn’t like the fact that I slept through the first half of the day. I felt like I was wasting my day, missing out on something. 

It was a slow change, however. It wasn’t until many years later that I started waking up at 6 o’clock. 

That took place when I got serious about having a set amount of time in the morning to spend with God. Before then I thought I was a night hawk: stay up late and get up later.

But New Year’s Day was always a little different – especially during the ten years when I ran all-night youth events on New Year’s Eve. I didn’t even go to bed until about 10:00 am New Year’s Day. 

It was nice when I could actually get to sleep before the sun rose on the New Year.  

I’m thinking that maybe, just maybe, my desire to sleep in on New Year’s Day is out of rebellion – rebellion against getting up at six in the morning every other day of the year. 

But rebellion isn’t a good thing. It doesn’t work out well in the end. Look at the law: when you rebel against a law, in time you are usually going to get caught and have to pay a price. 

When you rebel against God, look what that gets you. It may be delayed consequences but you will pay in the end.

It’s just like delayed gratification, only in a really bad way.

Maybe my rebellion against getting up at my regular time isn’t really rebellion after all. Maybe it’s to shorten the one day of the year that, after my time with God, there is nothing – really, nothing – to do. 

… Unless you are desperate to watch college football all day. Oh, and an environmentally friendly horticultural parade.

Can’t say that I want to get up early to watch that. 

Here’s the thing: There is one thing that we should be excited for each day and that is to spend time with God. He loves it when we do, and if you do it right, you will look forward to it each day. Here’s to 2020 and a new year! Let me challenge you to set a time to meet with God each day. Make it interesting – I read through the Bible chronologically each year. Don’t do all the talking; pause to listen to what God might be saying to you. Then record what you hear, and follow through with it. Have a Happy New Year! 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What’s your big goal for 2020? Leave your questions and comments below.