I lean over in sloth-like fashion and smack around on the nightstand until my hand finds the alarm clock. 4:45 AM comes early. I roll over and try to go back to sleep. I am barely back in dreamland when the annoying sound of BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! jolts me awake once again.

This time, I make sure to turn it off instead of just hit the snooze button (though my body is begging me to let it sleep a little bit longer). I slowly get up out of the warm bed and throw on my tank, yoga pants, and tennis shoes. Then I head out the door to meet my friend for our daily morning walks.

I am dragging butt all the way up until I meet her. As we start walking and talking, I begin to wake up. Our conversation gets going and my energy level spikes. She encourages me with her positivity and I verbally support her in her goals. We are intentional in our relationship with each other and our health. By the end of our three miles, my mood is happy, my mind is focused, and my body is ready to tackle the day ahead.

Isn’t it funny how that works? I could have stayed in bed. Believe me, I wanted to. I could have kept hitting the snooze button all the while telling myself that I will get up the next time it beeps. But I didn’t. Because I made a commitment. I made a choice to get up and get going despite how I felt.

An alarm clock has one objective: It wakes up the sleeper. It’s not concerned with being liked. It isn’t worried about how attractive or appealing it looks. It has a purpose and nothing except the physical act of turning it off can keep it from its intended goal. It’s not pretentious in the way it screams you awake. It doesn’t assume that you know how to get up on your own. It just does what it was made to do. One could even wonder how such a large sound comes from such a small box.

I know without a shadow of a doubt that I would never be able to keep my commitment to my walking buddy without this little object of blessed irritation. So, while I hate the wretched sound that it makes to jolt me awake in the early morning hours, I am grateful for the kick start out of bed it gives me.

The question remains then, if I know that listening to the shrieking alarm is good for me, why do I struggle with accepting its call to arise?

The answer is simple: My comfort seems better than my commitment. It lies to me as I wrestle with reasons to stay in bed and says, “You don’t need to go today. She can walk without you anyways. You deserve to sleep in.” On the days I give in to the temptation to ignore the call, I always regret my decision.

The sad reality, however, is that choosing comfort over commitment is a pretty popular thing to do in today’s “I want it now” culture. Too many of us are snoozing through life when an opportunity to rise up and actively pursue something bigger than ourselves passes us by.

I won’t be counted among the passive. I refuse to sleep the days away when nothing but opportunity awaits me on the other side of my closed eyelids. What about you? I guarantee someone is waiting for you to arise and meet them in their waking hours. You might be yawning all the way there but knowing the sunrise is waiting at the end of your trek truly makes the discomfort worth it.