Invigorated, Not Weary

I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members are frequently nicknamed Mormons. This isn't because we worship someone named Mormon, but because we believe that the Heavens are still open. "We believe the Bible to be the word of God, as far as it is translated correctly. We also believe The Book of Mormon to be the word of God" (Article of Faith 1:8). In addition to The Bible and The Book of Mormon, we believe in modern revelation and prophets called by God in our day.

Joseph Smith was the first prophet called in our dispensation, and through divine revelation given to him by God, we have another book of scripture called The Doctrine and Covenants. In the Doctrine and Covenants, there is a scripture that says,

"...Cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated." (D&C 88:124)

Those sound like some great promises to me! And they've been repeated by many people and proven to help people sleep and feel better. Benjamin Franklin said, 

"Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." 

Sometimes we don't have much control over this and sometimes we do. But I want to do the best I can, so I am making a goal to:

-go to bed at 10:00pm 
and
-wake up at 6:00am

When I'm able to do this, I could get 8 hours sleep, and still have time in the morning before John wakes up to pray, read scriptures, have breakfast and do yoga. Sounds like a great plan to me! 

We started yesterday and woke up early, and much more was accomplished in the morning. We did go to bed at 10:00 (maybe it was 10:15), but John is teething, and rolling over (not on purpose), so I was up at midnight and 4:00am. So that didn't work out as well, but hey! You win some, you lose some. The daily battle is not as important as winning the war, so we'll keep working on it.

Update: 3-3-13
Well, it is incredibly ironic that as soon as I make this sleep goal, I have an entire sleepless week. Our baby got a virus and a terrible rash, poor guy. He has been miserable and hasn't slept well, neither have I. But like I've said before, it's not a straight shot up the mountain, there will be switch backs and even landslides, but if I keep trying to move forward, we'll see some progress eventually!