The Snooze Button

At the top of North Mountain, Phoenix, AZ

Because the daily temps are well into the 100's here in Phoenix, AZ where I live, my hiking schedule in the summer has my alarm going off at 4:30 am so that I can be on the trail by 5am. Three days during the week, I meet a friend at the trail head so I have to be on time, but then there are days like today....

Today, the alarm went off, no one was waiting for me and I hit the snooze button about four times before I mustered enough energy to get out of bed. Finally, around 5:30am, I got up, got moving and was on the trail at 6am.

But, at 6am, the sun had already risen and the air was quickly heating up so the hike was more intense and more taxing on my body as I made my way through the winding trials and steadily (and sometimes rapidly) climbed the mountain. How I wished I had gotten up an hour earlier, but at that point it was too late and I had to power through the ascent.

Regardless of my prior relationship with the snooze button, I was moving, but the delay just made what I had to do a bit more difficult and a bit more dehydrating. Which leads me to this question...

Do you ever feel like you're hitting the snooze button? You know, the snooze button of life? As I reflected on this, I know there are times and areas in my life that I do. I think about the plans that I have to reach out to my neighbor, to call that friend I haven't talked to in a while, the songs I want to write, the people I want to help, the places I want to volunteer and the areas I want to serve. Yet, what do I find myself doing? You guessed it, hitting the snooze button and telling myself "I will do it later, I just need a few more minutes (which sometimes turns into months) before I get up and go."

The reality is the longer we hit life's snooze button, the more likely the alarm is to get stuck and soon it just stops going off at all. The nudging to move is silenced from neglect. Oh, that we would respond quickly when the alarm goes off, the alarm in our spirit that propels us to love, to serve, to respond and to move SO THAT others will know the love of Christ before He returns.

Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sound the alarm on my holy hill.
Let all who live in the land tremble,
for the day of the Lord is coming. Joel 2:1-3

I pray that what was learned today will remind us of the urgency of the call and I hope that the bee sting I got on top of the mountain this morning, that I am convinced I would not have gotten if I would have been there an hour earlier, will remind me to get up when the alarm goes off.

Blessing, friends!
I love you in the Lord,
Mia