rebelling against low expectations

The Daily Struggle

By Elizabeth Holland
October 24, 2014
62 comments
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My alarm went off.

It was 6:00 in the morning, cold and uninviting. My bed was very warm – and seemed even more so when I stuck out my hand to turn off the annoying screech of the alarm clock.

One glance at my calendar hanging on the wall totally disheartened me. The day was full of classes. Sleep was still near enough to slip silently and peacefully into school-less oblivion.

Just as my eyes were closing again, something on my calendar arrested my attention.

Oh yeah… It was that sticky note with my New Year’s resolutions. The first one read: Get up at 6:00.

Every day is a struggle, to get out of bed, to start schoolwork, to finish schoolwork, etc. When I was telling some public-schooled friends about my form of education, they both seemed impressed and said it must take, “a lot of discipline to get your work done.”

I felt like I should say something: I don’t have a lot of discipline. It’s hard to get stuff done, and more often than not, it doesn’t get done.

It’s hard not to be the typical teenager type — to be what the world expects us to be, or seems to want us to be.

It’s so easy to just hit the snooze button and zonk out instead of getting an early start on a busy morning.

It’s so easy to snap back at a little sibling instead of answering that question for the hundredth time gently.

It’s so easy to spend more time worrying about ourselves and what other people think of us instead of reaching out to other people and serving God through serving them.

But this world isn’t easy. And it’s not meant to be. One of the hymns that comes to mind says,

    He never promised that the cross would not get heavy,

    or the hill would not be hard to climb,

    He never offered victory without fighting,

    He said help would always come in time.

Yes, God will answer prayers about getting up in the morning. He will help you answer that oft-repeated question again. He will help you to serve His people.

The point is not to have an easy life – Christians don’t live easy lives – the point is to serve Him in even the mundane little every day things and when we feel like giving in,

Help will always come in time.

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Photo courtesy of Jamelah E. and Flickr Creative Commons.

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About the author

Elizabeth Holland

is currently a student at the Master’s University in California where she’s pursuing a degree in English. She enjoys traveling, playing her violin, making new things, and spending time with her friends. Elizabeth loves to write and hopes to make it her full-time occupation once she graduates.

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62 comments

  • Thanks soooo much! This is like reading a short summary of myself. (unfortunately, the “snapping at little siblings” part is true also.) I really needed this. Thanks so much!

  • I need to get up 6:00 every morning…

    “Help will always come in time.” Is that sure right! Great article Elizabeth!

    God Bless,

    Liam

  • oh my goodness this happend to me this morning. i wanted to wake up at 8:000 even set the alarm but then i fell back in bed and got up at 9:10 instead. Girl i so needed this article right know Amazing!!!!!!!!!!! five thumbs up!

  • Thank You so much for that Beautiful Article i really needed to hear that right know. Thanks Elisabeth
    God Bless You
    ~Madeleine

  • Coming from the girl who is procrastinating at the moment–God’s timing has some irony.
    The Daily Struggle. This article was titled perfectly. When either there’s nothing you want to do going on in the day and it’s so warm under the covers and so cold in the house. When you’re frustrated by fights in the family; weary from doing good, being tolerant, trying. Always trying. And hoping someday that there will be joy even in the mundane.
    Someday there will be. When a multitude of people that no one can count gathers around the throne of God to worship Him. That someday. But before then, you can bring a semblance of that someday to life here at home. Glorify Him in all that you do, whether you work or eat or drink or sleep. It’s a difficult thing to do, and so this website brings encouragement after encouragement after encouragement by hearing from others fighting the same or similar or even different battles, and persevering in trials and tribulation, and sharing their stories with one another to encourage each other. Spurr one another on toward love and good works, right? We’re good at that on here.
    So thank you, Elizabeth. Even though the message is one I did not particularly feel like hearing at this moment, it speaks to me, and I’m signing off so I can stop procrastinating. God bless!

  • Yes me to if so then i wouldn’t be so behind on my school work and i wouldn’t be currently reading THREE BOOKS simultaneously 🙂 hahaha i’m terrible at waking up early especially when it’s cold lol

    Madeleine

  • Either I am an early bird, or you’re a late one. 😀 I’m always doing school by 7:45. 😛 But, it means the same. When I am in bed a 6:30 when I was trying to get up at 6:00, means the same thing as you setting your alarm for 8:00, and then getting up at 9:10. God bless!

  • say what? i didn’t understand at all. you wake up really early girl 😉 and i live in Gerogia so that might be why the time is weird 🙂 depending on were you live and in what time zone 🙂
    God Bless You

    ~Madeleine

  • I edited my original post. I hope you can understand it better. Sorry, I was in a rush. Time zones, yeah. That explains a lot. 😀 God bless!

    ~Abby

  • yes that is so true i was really convicted about that this morning 🙂 when i was doing my devotions. it’s kind of being selfish in a way you know that’s how i think of it. and it’s given into our sinful nature also.
    ~Madeleine

  • That is true. Selfish is a good description. And (being a huge book reader) sometimes, I want to read my book before doing devotions. Basically, pushing God out of the way so I could read a book. I put books as more important than God. That is a huge struggle for me. I am attempting to get better, but it gets very hard sometimes.

  • Wow…Thanks so much for writing this. It was an encouragement and a challenge at the same time! Getting up at 6:00 is hard, but I have to in order to catch the bus to school. You’re absolutely right about how easy it is to fall back asleep or snap at our siblings. A great reminder of the battle we face as Christians and God’s help!

  • Oh dear, another vice of mine.
    I am so not a morning person! However, I know that I need to get up early not only to get a head start on my day, but also to get up as a matter of discipline. Thank you so much for this post! Great title, too!
    How do you figure out what title to use?

  • I deal with this too at one point just to get me out of bed in the morning I had at least five different alarms set to go off every 15 minutes for like an hour before I actually had to get up. Thankfully now I only have one but I like to snooze that one too. I am definitely not a morning in the sense of getting up, but one I get up I like to sit with my Bible by an open window and read early in the morning. I like that verse that says My voice shalt thou hear in the morning , O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. (Psalm 5:3 KJV)

  • Procrastination is one of my biggest downfalls. I often go back to the horrible idea of ‘well, everyone else my age does it, why should I try to be better?’ Your post encouraged me to try to be better than the social norm. Thanks so much for writing this! 🙂

  • Thanks for the article Elizabeth! I really like the hymn that you quoted! I often need to remember that God will always help me though the hard things in life. Thanks again!

    P.S. What’s the name of your greeting card company?

  • http://www.familycircle.com/health/family/sleep/

    Teens really need extra sleep. I’m a mother of three teens and this is one reason I don’t mind them sleeping longer on the weekends. So if your mom is telling you to get to sleep earlier, realize it’s because she loves you. You will serve God better and feel His Spirit more powerfully when you are well rested. xoxo

  • Great post, Elizabeth! The struggle is real! But realer still is the Help that comes from God. I was very encouraged by this! Keep writing, girl; you’re talented!

  • thank you Elizabeth! 🙂 I am dealing with such a problem for very long time…God bless!
    Mary :)))

  • Thank you so much for reading my article!
    It’s a struggle that happens every day, so I couldn’t help but name it such. =) I don’t know if this answers your question or not … 😀

    – Elizabeth

  • I just read the comments and have been so blessed that God used this article for His glory!

    – Elizabeth

  • Thanks so much for this Elizabeth! Especially with being a home schooled junior and having lots of hard classes this year…having motivation to get up in the morning and stay on track is such a struggle. Thanks for the much needed encouragement!

  • Girl, let’s wake up at 8 AM together!! That’s my wake-up time 😀 I’m planning to move to waking up at 7:45 later on!

    Lol, I wonder who talks about their wake-up times on the World Wide Web? Haha! 🙂

  • Hahaha ok let’s do this Girl! 🙂 i know right we’re probably the only teens who do lol 🙂 yes let’s do this Together!!!!!!

  • I did that this morning too I wanted to get up at 6 but I fell asleep reading my devotional book instead and got up at 8 instead. Thankfully I had already read my Bible but still………

  • I try to use my iPod and set an alarm before I actually have to get up it would have worked better this morning if I hadn’t stayed up till midnight last night. lol

  • Oh, yes! This is my life, too! I read your article and died inside, but also was inspired. Thank you ever so much!! We cannot fight the good fight or finish the race (2 Tim. 4:7) if we never get up and go! But we must continue to press on, with our eyes fixed on Jesus! (Heb. 12:2)

  • Thank you, Elizabeth! I want to wake up every morning really early but it never happens…this article was perfect for me!!!!! Thanks again — God bless,
    ~Annalysa

  • That is so true life isn’t meant to be easy. Thanks for this it shows we need to trust in God.

  • This hurts. I was just talking to my mom and sister about how I’m not getting up early enough in the morning (it seems like there’s not really anything to do), then one of the first articles I read on this website is talking about not getting up early… Then the rest of the article hit home, too.

  • I love getting up… just before 6!
    if you do it long enough, your body will get used to it.
    I found the trick is to get out of bed immediately. you don’t even have to open your eyes, but standing up or lying on the floor allows you to wake up without accidentally falling asleep…

  • My dad usually makes me eggs for breakfast, but by the time I get up, they’re already cold. I told him the other day that he didn’t need to make me breakfast anymore because I’m tired of cold eggs. Just getting up on time would be a better solution, I see. 🙂 Thanks for the article!

  • Thanks for this tip, Joyful joyful. Do you have any other tricks for forcing yourself to get up? Sometimes, it’s so hard. Well, really it’s always so hard.

  • Yes, I do
    1. Don’t listen to your body when you wake up. 90% of the time, when that alarm goes off, your body will tell you that you are really tired. EVEN if you have had a great sleep. Ignore that “I’m tired” feeling. If necessary, do the math. Have I been asleep the normal amount? the answer is probably yes.
    2. Turn on a light, get moving, sing, do SOMETHING to help yourself wake up, and above all, prevent yourself from going BACK to sleep.
    3. The good old “cold water on the face” trick works too, as a last resort…
    4. Be consistent in your sleep schedule. Sometimes sleeping in an extra hour on the weekends does more harm than good. Let your body get used to something and stick with it! (I know this from personal experience, plus my Mom told me, and she had heard it from people “in the know”)
    5. Positive attitude 🙂

  • Yes… the time is not important, but rather what is right. if I wake up 5:30 and don’t get myself out of bed, it really could be just as bad as someone who didn’t get out of bed at 8:30
    Thanks for the insight–I hadn’t thought of it this way before

  • Well I’m only seeing this post a year later, but that’s okay because its exactly what I needed right now. With the school year started, I have made the resolution to spend my 6-7 hour with God before actually getting started with my school day but too often its 15 minutes or so of me trying to wake up and groggily murmuring prayers to God. Thanks for the encouragement

  • @programguy:disqus I’m so glad that you liked the article and that it triggered some good memories. Thank you for your thoughtful comment!

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By Elizabeth Holland October 24, 2014
62 comments
rebelling against low expectations

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