30 Av (Rosh Chodesh Elul): Awaken

Here goes.  This is day 1 of hopefully the next 30 days of blogging, based on writing prompts I set up based on the themes of the Hebrew month of Elul.  Elul is the month before the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashannah.  It is a time when G-d is supposed to be closest to us, ready and waiting to listen.  We are taught to take this time to do an assessment on our behaviours past and think about how to improve.

Awaken

Awake, O lyre and harp; I shall awaken the dawn. - Psalms (Chapter 108, verse 2)

No this is not my place, but it definitely sounds like it.  

4:30 AM and I hear the birds chirping.  It's still dark out.  I look over at the clock.  Four.  Thirty.  In the morning.  An hour later, my husband's alarm kicks on.  I nudge him.  Get up or turn it off.

He walks quietly out of the room.  The floor creaks and I could hear my son moving in his crib.  Will my son wake up in the next five minutes or will he have mercy on me and sleep until seven?

"Arise like a lion to serve your Creator in the morning." -  (Shulchan Aruch 1,1)

I'm awake.  Do I get out of bed, have a shower or maybe gasp, do a little exercise while my son is cuddled with his teddy bear?

Ten minutes later.  I'm still laying in bed.  My husband has started his day and is about to bike to work.  I could go downstairs, have breakfast with him, and have a quiet conversation before my son screams for his YOGUUUUUURT!

I could accomplish so much in this quiet time.  I could listen to a lecture online, read a few pages of a book or learn a few more words in Hebrew...All the things I make excuses for not doing because I have a toddler running around.

Another ten minutes go by.  I'm awake, but I'm not moving.  I could hear my son sit up his bed and throw his teddy bear out of his crib (I really don't understand why he does this as part of his wake up ritual, Modeh Ani...Toss?).  I drag my sorry a-- get out of bed lugging my excuses and start the day.