Early?

May 27th, 2023| Topic: RaMbLeS | 0

Yup, “they” (whoever “they” might be) were right, it seems. Early birds (and I don’t mean avians) are more religious than the ones who retire late.

So claimeth scientists from the University of Warsaw in “Godless Owls, Devout Larks: Religiosity and Conscientiousness Are Associated with Morning Preference and (Partly) Explain Its Effects on Life Satisfaction,” published this month in PLOS ONE (Public Library of Science).

So, if you want a sign from heaven, wake up earlier.

It works the other way, too. Being religious also meant a preference for mornings.

Some people naturally prefer waking up early in the morning, while others like staying up late, and a third group falls somewhere in between. Whatever kind of person you are, that is your “chronotype.” Prior research has already linked being a morning person with having generally higher life satisfaction and being more conscientious. As well, earlier studies have uncovered associations between being religious and those same traits. Our researchers put all of that together.

One of the most commonly cited Polish proverbs says ‘kto rano wstaje, temu Pan Bóg daje’ (“the one who gets up early, gets rewarded by God”). Although its meaning is roughly reflected in popular sayings like “the early bird catches the worm” and “early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise,” the Polish adage adds another dimension to its English-language counterparts as it seeks the source of morning lark’s prosperity in the divine blessing. In the present paper, we aimed to put the folk wisdom expressed in the Polish saying into an empirical test. Thus, across two high-powered studies, we investigated the interplay between morningness-eveningness, conscientiousness, religiosity, and satisfaction with life.”

In an effort to better understand the relationship and interplay between preference for mornings, conscientiousness, religiosity, and life satisfaction, researchers put together and conducted two survey-based analyses of Polish adults—one featuring 500 participants and another gathering 728 participants. Both cohorts completed questionnaires evaluating their preference for mornings, their life satisfaction, and their conscientiousness level. One group was asked about their belief in God, while the other was asked about their level of religiosity in general.

We found that morningness was related to a higher conscientiousness and belief in God.”

Not bad if you are one of those morning persons.

They connect with God in the morning:

My eyes have been [up] early, [in] the night watches,
to muse on Your utterance.
Psalm 119:148

Good happens to the upright in the morning (and bad to the evil):

This is the path of those who are stupid,
and of those following [them] ….
As sheep they are appointed for Sheol—
death their shepherd;
and the upright shall rule over them in the morning.
Psalm 49:13–14

They plead with him in the morning:

Yahweh, in the morning, You hear my voice;
in the morning I lay [my petition] to You and watch.
Psalm 5:3

They seek his blessing in the morning:

Satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness,
and we will shout for joy and rejoice all our days.
Psalm 90:14

They praise God in the morning:

Good it is, to give thanks to Yahweh,
and to make music to Your name, Most High,
to proclaim in the morning Your lovingkindness,
and Your faithfulness in the nights.
Psalm 92:1–2

Hey, maybe even God is a morning Person?

For [there is] a moment in His anger,
[but a] life[time] in His favor;
weeping remains for the night,
but in the morning an exclamation of joy.
Psalm 30:5

Alas, I, however, am not.

SOURCES: Study Finds; Eureka Alert; PLOS ONE