Good Morning!

For the first time this semester, I am so excited for the week ahead! I have two big midterms to tackle, and plenty of goals and plans, and I cannot wait to get started. In times past, I would be ready for such a week, but more braced for the onslaught rather than excited to take it on. This week, however, I have energy and I am ready to go. I attribute this and many recent miracles to the 10-6 plan. My love for this schedule is increasing more and more as I see the little miracles that have resulted from it. There is hardly anything more satisfying to me than walking up to campus for class at 9:00, knowing that I've already written a paper. I had a lot of homework last week, so I got up at 5:00 on Wednesday and Thursday to give myself extra time, and it was wonderful! There are so many less distractions early in the morning, so my time is far more productive. I feel like President Hinckley knew me when he gave this direction, and I know that he's watching me now. It's as though the Lord was just waiting for me to make this change so that he could do the rest. After years of praying for the discipline to be an early-riser, I've experienced an almost instant change in my ability to get up each morning when I plan to. I cannot express how much I love this, nor how blessed I've been lately.

President Monson, prophet and president of our church, gave a fireside here last month, and the next Tuesday, Elder Holland, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, spoke at devotional. Both spoke about moving forward with courage and not looking back. Elder Holland was especially direct in telling us that we must do this and that we can. I can't look back and wish that I were still living at home and working on the musical with Mom and John, no matter how much I would love that. We are meant to progress in this life, and there's always more blessings and more happiness ahead if we keep moving forward. God's goodness and love are endless, and we can't receive the fullness of those blessings if we don't face what's ahead and work our hardest to do what the Lord wants us to do.

I know that I have important work to do here, and what I do each day can bring me closer to fulfilling those purposes. Right now, I am preparing for my future and for my future family. My life is wonderful, and my heart is so full of gratitude for who I am and all that I can become through God's grace and his plan.

It's a Miracle!

Before I came out to BYU, I downloaded the BYU Devotionals podcast, and enjoyed listening to them on Sunday morning or anytime I needed a spiritual boost, and I've come back to one, entitled "Live Right Now," multiple times in the last year for strength and direction. The devotional itself talks about agency and the different types of choices we make and how we make them. The speaker is Gerrit Gong, and he delivered the talk on 3/20/07, and I highly recommend looking it up. The best guidance I've received from this address, however, is a quick quote from President Hinckley that Brother Gong mentions. To BYU students, our beloved former prophet advises that "if you get to bed by 10:00 and get up 6:00, things will work out for you." I was pretty impressed by this, because it is so rare that General Authorities give such specific instructions, and it has stayed with me ever since.

Facing this new semester, I was feeling overwhelmed by the task of figuring out how to do everything this semester, and I realized that "things working out" is exactly what I need to happen, and if President Hinckley says that that will happen, then I'll do whatever he says. Thus began the 10-6 experiment.

I have yet to be asleep by 10:00 p.m. on the dot, but I'm coming close, and I officially LOVE waking up early. Those of you who know me are probably thinking, "This surely can't be Emily, the girl who barely had 80% attendance for seminary, which started at 6:00, five days a week for 4 years? She's chosing now, when she doesn't have classes until 9:00 every morning, to become a morning person?" Well, it's time to re-think how you see my early-rising potential, for I am officially a morning person. I've discovered that my key to 6 a.m. success is not letting myself hit snooze or fall back on my pillow, because then I fall into a vicious cycle of alarms and funny dreams, last minute getting up, hurried getting ready, stressful trekking to campus, and tardy entering of class or work. Ironically, sleeping to the last minute and rushing to get ready results in my being way more tired during the day than when I get up at 6:00, get ready, and spend time studying scriptures and starting my homework for the day.

These instructions from President Hinckley have blessed me so much in these last two weeks. My experiences have testified to me that Heavenly Father knows exactly what we need not only spiritually but physically. He created us to thrive under certain circumstances, and the 10-6 lifestyle is one that works beautifully for me.