The First 30 Minutes

As a child, I was a early riser and it was usually very easy to get out of bed and start my day regardless of the time that I finished the prior day. My dad's alarm would go off downstairs and I'd be awake waiting to hear him call me or I might be walking downstairs already. This of course wasn't every morning, but the standard. A far cry from my dear sister who would never get up and often had to be drug out of bed and then serenaded by my mother's specially composed song "Put a Smile on Your Face". She is probably shuttering at the mere words, but the words alone don't do it justice. The shrill and the accent and the pronunciation and the lack of melodic sound...there is no real way for me to demonstrate it for you and honestly, you'd rather not hear it. It was, by far, the most horrific song ever written. I shiver at the thought of it today and it was never belted (and that is how it is performed) my direction.

I go into all of this not to bash my sister's inability to remove herself from her covers as a child or my mother's lyrical abilities, but because I've been reminded of all those childhood mornings this entire week as we've tried to get back into the routine from summer break.

Chris is at work when the alarms start going off at the Woodard house so he is completely unaware of the chaos that ensues when the dawn rings in. That screeching from my blackberry begins at 5:30, I remember it sounding so cheerful when I picked it for the alarm. By 5:45, I'm stumbling over sleeping dogs and tripping over the darting cat (who is wailing at me to feed her) to get to Derek to bring him back from the depths of his comatose sleep (and I promise, he is comatose). Usually, he will get up, but there are mornings that he needs a little extra encouragement. After a "quick" shower, I'm back to tripping over dogs to relive the episodes of the Loftin household as I try and get Russell B to join us. I must admit that on rare occasion, I’ve had to use the song. That child loves his sleep! Caleb will either come to the party on his own, or we'll dress him in his sleep (remember, kindergarten has yet to begin for him so he's still safe) and plop him in the car on our way out the door.

At this point the full-fledge-mad-dash is on and it's a free-for-all..."Don't forget to brush your teeth...wait, did you eat anything?", "Mom, do you know where any socks are?" "Derek, there is deodorant in your drawer for a reason and it isn't just so you can look at it", "Lunches are in the fridge", "Don't forget I've got practice today after school, pick me up at 3:45.", "Did we sign everything that needed to be signed?" "Russ, take the dogs out", "Have you seen my blue shoes?" "When you get home this afternoon, you had better clean your room"...and the list goes on and on and on, but you totally get the idea. It is 55 minutes of pure and total chaos. Maybe we should try to begin this regimen earlier, but seriously, 5:00 is just too early for me and that's all there is too it. By 6:35 Derek is on his way to the bus and we're getting in the car...us, the lunch boxes, the back-packs, the occasional breakfast-on-the-go and hopefully, our sanity. This is when it all runs well...when it doesn't, it isn't pleasant for any of us. The mornings that it isn’t pleasant is honestly the point of this entire entry.

Dale Thomas, www.winnersbychoice.com, shared some incredible insight with me today and I'm passing it along to you because it could possibly change all of our lives. She said "everything that goes into your mind in the first thirty minutes of your day determines the outlook and productivity of the entire rest of your day"! That is astounding...imagine what we could empower our children with as they begin their day, imagine what we could do differently if we began our day better? I look back in horror at the things that have been said in our house on those "not-so-perfect-mornings"...we were all doomed from the get-go. So, I'm challenging you to party it up in the morning...turn the radio up loud, dance and sing, get excited about your day and what it's going bring. Claim the day in the Lord's honor and make it great...make it great in the first 30 minutes!