Welcome new friends and old!! Today is April first which means it is the kick-off for the A to Z Blogging Challenge hosted by J. Lenni Dorner at JLennidorner.blogspot.com and his A to Z team. I learned about the challenge from my blogger friend Joyce at From This Side of the Pond and decided to give it a go myself.
This is the series' 16th year and that's pretty amazing. Dorner explains: "It all began with my post from Saturday, March 27, 2010 when I set forth a challenge to all bloggers for the month of April. Can you post every day except Sundays during this month? And to up the bar, can you blog thematically from A to Z?"
Well, we are going to find out if I can rise to the challenge!! Not starting off well as this is the first day, at it is presently 8:43 pm as I am scrambling to write this post. Need to get a few posts written ahead of time. Which is hard for me.
A to Z Blogging Challenge Themes
The theme for the A to Z Blogging Challenge team is "Aspirations: Blogging hopes, dreams and goals." Joyce has chosen an interesting theme - "The Things We Keep: An A-Z of Ordinary
Objects" beginning with A is for aprons.
For my theme, I have decided to do a spin-off of a recent Where Bloggers Live post about glimmers or little miracles in my day to day life. Brought to you in ABC order!! 🎶Music to this librarian's heart ❤️.
A is for Awake
I have been trying to get up earlier for months now with lots of excuses as to why I haven't been successful.
- PC is still in bed and not ready to get up
- it's cold out there
- and it's still dark
- plus I didn't sleep very well 'last night'
- whatever I am going to get up early to do can be done just as well at 9:00 am
But my days always go better when I get up earlier and start with my morning quiet time.
I started asking Google to wake me up at 6:00 or 6:30 am but felt so inconsiderate in doing so because it was also waking PC. Spoke with my friend Denise about how she wakes up every morning for quiet time and she said she has prayed and asked God to awaken her every morning.
I couldn't imagine how that would work but decided to give it a try. And by golly, I have been waking up on my own every morning between 6:00 and 6:30 am without an alarm. Crazy!! I slip out of bed and most mornings, PC doesn't even stir. A little miracle for sure.
This morning my efforts were rewarded with an amazing sunrise, too. We rarely
have clouds, so these wispy formations in spring colors were a real treat. Beautiful.
Your Turn
How do you wake up every morning? Do you set an alarm? Or are you a creature of habit who just awakens automatically at the same time every day? Another benefit of letting God awaken me is that I am reminded to begin my day in prayer and gratitude. I lie in bed for a few moments just giving thanks for the many blessings in my life before rolling out from under the covers.
Hey, the A to Z Blogging Challenge is accepting participants through 04.04.2026 so if you are interested in joining us, there's still time. Register here and join the fun.
I am off to bed. Subbed for an especially chatty class of second graders today. Looking forward to a good night's sleep and awakening for my quiet time tomorrow morning. Thank you for spending a few minutes of your day here with me.
Hugs and kisses,
I love this! I enjoy rising before the sun so I can watch it come up. We have beautiful sunrises on the lake and I hate to miss it. I naturally wake up early but maybe it's God knowing I hate to miss the sunrise : )
ReplyDeleteI wake up with an alarm at 6:45 in order to get my son to school. On the weekend I usually sleep till 7:30.
ReplyDeleteWe haven't set an alarm since we retired but guess what? We still wake up at the same time!
ReplyDeleteI haven't set an alarm in years and years. I always tend to wake about the same time each day 4:30/5:00.. even on vacation.
ReplyDeleteNow that's a sign that talking to the Universe (or God), works! I've not been sleeping terribly well lately, which I believe is just hormones now that I'm 50 lol. But last night I slept so well, I didn't even hear Michael's alarm clock at 6.45! It was wonderful! But I usually just wake up around the time that he does. Sometimes I just snooze for another half an hour or a have a cuddle with whichever cat is on the bed!
ReplyDeleteHugs
Suzy xx
Thank you for this theme, Leslie. Little miracles in my everyday life. I have immediately decided that I will be alert for them in my own life from this day forth! And you have got off to a good start with Awake. Once you set aside your mind's excuses for why not to do it, you decided to wake up at a certain time, and lo and behold, you did! We are about to go on holiday and I don't want to waste my mornings lying in bed, so this is a wonderful opportunity for me. (Just discovered your blog and belatedly visiting my fellow A-to-Z-ers. So glad I've found yours.
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