Hey readers--I am back from a brief blogging hiatus. I followed my own advice and made some margin in my life last week when I was beset by life. Part of that margin meant not blogging for a bit. That season of hurry has past, so here I am again.
Last week someone asked me what spiritual disciplines I felt were important. The core routines that have helped me most in my walk of faith have been: worship, scripture reading, scripture study, devotional reading, intentional acts of kindness and service, tithing, and keeping a sabbath. If you read that list closely you might note a couple of routines that sound repetitive, but are intentionally different. Specifically, scripture reading vs. scripture study and worship vs. maintaining a sabbath. Though used "vs." these are not opposing practices, but I do want to highlight some distinctions around them. For today I will start with scripture.
My background on my relationship to scripture
I recall a large, black leather bound Bible with a gold zipper in our home when I was a child. I don't ever remember anyone reading it. It was just there. I was always intrigued by it, but wasn't sure how to approach reading the Bible. In late high school, I felt a mix of duty, need, and curiousity about reading the whole Bible. I made several failed efforts. The usual routine was to start in Genesis and have a fantastic time until I got to somewhere in Leviticus or Numbers and then I would die a thousand deaths of misunderstanding and boredom.
That changed for me after I read a short little book called "How to Read the Bible for Yourself". There were a couple of practical principles that helped me prevail then and they have sustained me for over twenty years without fail. Here they are:
Have a plan. Use a reading plan. Preferably something that takes you through the Gospels initially so that you can get in a discipline of reading prior to getting to more difficult text to wade through. I recall reading 1st John each day for a week initially to just get myself in a habit. Then I read the Gospel of John twice and the Gospel of Matthew twice. Read either a certain number of chapters or minutes each day. I read four chapters a day and have for years. It is what works for me. Spending 15 minutes or so is a good start. Just be sure to start with something doable and then build on the success. Don't bite off more than you can chew because of your initial inspiration and then find yourself defeated when the reality of sustaining your practice sets in.
Have a no exceptions policy. Always do your reading no matter how much you do or do not want to. No matter how tired you are or overwhelmed. I have had times where I had to walk and read or stretch and read just to stay awake, but I didn't regret it. I found that whenever I miss in any discipline, it becomes a catalyst for the discipline to potentially fall apart.
If you miss, then don't get in a game of trying to play catch-up. Despite your no exception policy you may fail to maintain your discipline at some point. If that happens, just pick-up where you left off or skip on to what is next and get moving again. I have found that most people get snowballed out of commission with assigned reading if they start saying thing like, "I will just read four chapters tomorrow, since I didn't read two today." Forget four, just get back on track.
Read with a pencil in hand. Jot down thoughts and ideas, verses that grab you, underline, circle, put notes in the margin, etc. Using a pencil will automatically engage you in the text more and protect your from just glossing over the words.
Create a coach. Take a moment right now and think about why you want to grow spiritually. Pretend for a moment that you are struggling with consistently getting into God's Word. If a good frien were encouraging you, what would they say. Right thise down right now. Place the paper as a bookmark in your Bible and read it regularly. It will condition your mind toward consistency.
Link your reading to an already established routine. One woman linked her reading to reading the newspaper every morning. Her policy was, "No bad news, unless I have read the Good News." I read at night for me it's "No bible, no bed." You could link yours to a meal, arriving home from work, or whatever is a daily uncompromising activity for you.
Lastly, strive not to complete the Bible but rather to get in a daily routine of reading. If you can establish a daily routine, then you will find yourself reading the Bible numerous times.
If you are already reading daily then consider where you are on a spectrum of learning. First stage being reading. Second, studying. Third, applying. Fourth, scripture is a part of who you are and you are living out of it. We can approach some of these other practices in future blogs.
Blessings to you who are just beginning this journey of daily reading.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
Prayer--Finding the Right Words, or Use No Words
This past week I visited a church and asked the congregation about difficulties they have praying. As usually the first answer offered up regarding an inability to focus. Another answer though came up which is not uncommon. Someone mentioned that they have a difficult time finding the right words. First off, I am not so certain there are "right" words to be found. Lovely and profound words lacking in heart or conviction, I rather suspect are like burnt offering offerings without obedience in the Old Testament.
Speaking from the heart with the best honesty you can muster is the best we can hope for. If you examine the Lord's Prayer that Jesus offered, you will noticed that it is neither lengthy are overly eloquent. I always strive to choose my finest words, but trust that sincerity gives them greater weight with God than perhaps any other characteristic.
If you really want to expand your prayer vocabulary, I strongly recommend getting a book of prayers to use devotionally. A classic old favorite of mine is A Diary of Private Prayer by John Baillie. The book is roughly a month of morning and evening prayers with a blank opposing page for each where you can write your own prayers. I have filled out a couple of these. The language is a bit archaic, but the depth and breadth of prayer which Baillie offers is rather immense. If take mimic the content that he covers in his prayers but in your own personal style. I think you will find that the scope of what you think about in regards to prayer will broaden and deepen.
If you can't find John Baillie's book, I would still recommend finding a devotional resource that will prompt you to think more broadly when you pray. Either way, seek sincerity and honesty in what you lift before God. If you want to challenge yourself even further, consider praying without words. Take some time to just mentally form as full an image as you possibly can of what you are praying about and lift it upto God. Picture in your mind the full outcome if your prayer were to be answered as you hope. For instance, some times when I preach I pray for the congregation in this way. I don't just imagine them sitting there and soaking in a sermon and being wonderfully connecting. Instead, I picture them at home or work applying whatever I addressed. So, if I preach on forgiveness, I hold up to God an image of people going home and calling someone they are disenfanchised with or offering an apology. If I preach about service, then I picture them moved to help someone else. You get the picture (no pun intended).
Praying in pictures has a couple effects upon you as the prayer. First, it makes you really slow down and consider practical what your prayer would mean. Second, praying in pictures usually causes me to spend much more time on individual prayers than usually. Lastly, while I can't necessarily prove or quantify it, I have a strong sense that when i do this my prayers are frankly far more effective.
Give it a try and let me know how it goes. With gratitude for any who read my blog, The Practical Disciple.
Speaking from the heart with the best honesty you can muster is the best we can hope for. If you examine the Lord's Prayer that Jesus offered, you will noticed that it is neither lengthy are overly eloquent. I always strive to choose my finest words, but trust that sincerity gives them greater weight with God than perhaps any other characteristic.
If you really want to expand your prayer vocabulary, I strongly recommend getting a book of prayers to use devotionally. A classic old favorite of mine is A Diary of Private Prayer by John Baillie. The book is roughly a month of morning and evening prayers with a blank opposing page for each where you can write your own prayers. I have filled out a couple of these. The language is a bit archaic, but the depth and breadth of prayer which Baillie offers is rather immense. If take mimic the content that he covers in his prayers but in your own personal style. I think you will find that the scope of what you think about in regards to prayer will broaden and deepen.
If you can't find John Baillie's book, I would still recommend finding a devotional resource that will prompt you to think more broadly when you pray. Either way, seek sincerity and honesty in what you lift before God. If you want to challenge yourself even further, consider praying without words. Take some time to just mentally form as full an image as you possibly can of what you are praying about and lift it upto God. Picture in your mind the full outcome if your prayer were to be answered as you hope. For instance, some times when I preach I pray for the congregation in this way. I don't just imagine them sitting there and soaking in a sermon and being wonderfully connecting. Instead, I picture them at home or work applying whatever I addressed. So, if I preach on forgiveness, I hold up to God an image of people going home and calling someone they are disenfanchised with or offering an apology. If I preach about service, then I picture them moved to help someone else. You get the picture (no pun intended).
Praying in pictures has a couple effects upon you as the prayer. First, it makes you really slow down and consider practical what your prayer would mean. Second, praying in pictures usually causes me to spend much more time on individual prayers than usually. Lastly, while I can't necessarily prove or quantify it, I have a strong sense that when i do this my prayers are frankly far more effective.
Give it a try and let me know how it goes. With gratitude for any who read my blog, The Practical Disciple.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Jesus and Keeping a Rhythm
P.D. Novice commented on how we find images of Jesus in the Gospels withdrawing from the crowds to be in prayer. Coincidentally, or God-incidentally as I like to call it, my wife's bible study class was examining Mark chapter 6 today and noted how Jesus withdrew from the crowds but then they would come to him and he would "look on them with pity" or some translations say "felt compassion" and he would reengage and respond to them. A really wonderful example of this is Mark 6:30-34 which reads as follows...
"The apostles gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while. (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves. The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them. When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things." (NASB version)
Jesus obviously recognized the need for basic self care as essential to good ministry. He withdrew and sometimes did so by himself. I am convinced that he didn't only do that when at a place of being so burned out or tired that he couldn't do anything else. Jesus had a practice of withdrawing and it seems that he even had at least one particular spot he would go to. In the Gospel of Luke after celebrating the Passover meal with his disciples and before being arrested we are told,
"And He came out and proceeded as was His custom to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed Him." Luke 22:39.
Apparently, Jesus had done this with some regularity and with the awareness of the disciples. Even God rested, so why should we think that we can avoid a rhythm of restful withdrawal in our lives.
If someone where to look at your life right now and write about it, what text would surround the words, "as was his/her custom?" Would it say, "And he came out from work very late and tried to pray just before sleeping and dozed off as was His custom." Or "And she found herself constantly in a rush while never completing her to do list as was her custom." Or "He slammed more coffee and just kept moving, but could never seem to find any peace or joy as was his custom."
What would it take for someone to write about your lif.e... "And she walked out to the garden to pray as was her custom." Or "And he awoke rested and ready to serve as was his custom." Or "And he simply sat down and took a few breaths to become centered before responding to the request as was his custom."?
Give it some thought and more importantly prayer. We can revisit this again. I look forward to folks comments. Blessing to you as you build good customs for maintaining a Godly rhythm in your life,
The Practical Disciple
"The apostles gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while. (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves. The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them. When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things." (NASB version)
Jesus obviously recognized the need for basic self care as essential to good ministry. He withdrew and sometimes did so by himself. I am convinced that he didn't only do that when at a place of being so burned out or tired that he couldn't do anything else. Jesus had a practice of withdrawing and it seems that he even had at least one particular spot he would go to. In the Gospel of Luke after celebrating the Passover meal with his disciples and before being arrested we are told,
"And He came out and proceeded as was His custom to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed Him." Luke 22:39.
Apparently, Jesus had done this with some regularity and with the awareness of the disciples. Even God rested, so why should we think that we can avoid a rhythm of restful withdrawal in our lives.
If someone where to look at your life right now and write about it, what text would surround the words, "as was his/her custom?" Would it say, "And he came out from work very late and tried to pray just before sleeping and dozed off as was His custom." Or "And she found herself constantly in a rush while never completing her to do list as was her custom." Or "He slammed more coffee and just kept moving, but could never seem to find any peace or joy as was his custom."
What would it take for someone to write about your lif.e... "And she walked out to the garden to pray as was her custom." Or "And he awoke rested and ready to serve as was his custom." Or "And he simply sat down and took a few breaths to become centered before responding to the request as was his custom."?
Give it some thought and more importantly prayer. We can revisit this again. I look forward to folks comments. Blessing to you as you build good customs for maintaining a Godly rhythm in your life,
The Practical Disciple
Saturday, May 10, 2008
More on learning how to say "no"
Everything that I shared in my previous post about saying no is helpful but needs to be given with a disclaimer. Before sharing the disclaimer let me share a brief story. Once I was talking to a pastor friend who was bemoaning how overworked he was. He was singing the ever popular chorus, "I need to learn to say no." I replied, "No, you don't. You are really good at saying no. You have said no to your health, your family, sleeping, eating well, excercising. You are really good at saying no. You need to learn to say yes to the right things.
Here comes the "no" disclaimer--Even when you learn to say no to things that are invading your life you will help remove dissatisfaction and stress from your life, but bringing satisfaction involves learning to say "yes" to the right things. Imagine wanting to grow a beautiful garden. Learning to say no is a weeding process, but if all you ever did was weed you would wind up with a piece of barren ground when all was said and done, if you did not seed. In recovery minsitry I have heard this described as living into the solution rather than living out of the problem. Both are really necessary.
I spoke in a similar fashion about this dynamic in my blog post on prayer, forgiveness, and anger. Learning to say no is a way of living out of the problem. You are purging the bad or at least limiting its access into your life. But to really add joy and satisfication, you need to know your priorities and start saying "yes" to what you want as a priority. Eventually spiritually healthy "yes's" will so fill you life that saying no because a much simpler task. So what do you need to be saying yes to: family, sleep, exercise, play, service, learning, prayer, rest, margin time, or may be just a little time being still. Definitely spend prayer discovering your yes.
Peace, joy, and the grace space to say yes, from the Practical Disciple
Here comes the "no" disclaimer--Even when you learn to say no to things that are invading your life you will help remove dissatisfaction and stress from your life, but bringing satisfaction involves learning to say "yes" to the right things. Imagine wanting to grow a beautiful garden. Learning to say no is a weeding process, but if all you ever did was weed you would wind up with a piece of barren ground when all was said and done, if you did not seed. In recovery minsitry I have heard this described as living into the solution rather than living out of the problem. Both are really necessary.
I spoke in a similar fashion about this dynamic in my blog post on prayer, forgiveness, and anger. Learning to say no is a way of living out of the problem. You are purging the bad or at least limiting its access into your life. But to really add joy and satisfication, you need to know your priorities and start saying "yes" to what you want as a priority. Eventually spiritually healthy "yes's" will so fill you life that saying no because a much simpler task. So what do you need to be saying yes to: family, sleep, exercise, play, service, learning, prayer, rest, margin time, or may be just a little time being still. Definitely spend prayer discovering your yes.
Peace, joy, and the grace space to say yes, from the Practical Disciple
Friday, May 9, 2008
Tips on Restoring Margin
In response to my post, "Living in the Rhythm--First Steps", blog reader, P.D. Novice, commented "I was wondering what are some practical ways to restore margin? For starters, I was thinking saying "no" more often and also scheduling bigger chunks of time for each endeavor." Well, P.D. Novice your instincts are dead on and I want offer some suggestions.
Regarding saying no-- "I need to learn to say no, more" is the perennial anthem of rhythm lackers. But seldom are we taught much about saying no. I have a couple thoughts to help you.
First, why do you so often say yes. A typical yes saying scenario for me is...I get a request. I want to be helpful. I don't have a direct conflict and can't think of a better excuse than I am too busy. Being too busy sounds too cliche or like I don't know how to manage my life, so before you know it I have said yes to something I really am not invested in doing. As it approaches I find myself stressed, resentful, or resisting. That's no fun. So, what's the alternative. A friend of mine once shared with me the quote, "Self care is a holy obligation." The quote haunted me for awhile. I came to realize that time for my family, for rest and/or myself was a necessity. I learned that I needed to start examining why I said yes to things and only say yes if it was a purposeful yes. I frequently now will have a request from someone that involves an evening or weekend day that I really am not ready to give up. When that happens I am now totally comfortable with saying, "I am sorrow I can't. I have another commitment." Sometimes that commitment is downtime or margin. It's also perfectly okay to say, "I am really overcommitted and have no business taking that on right now."
Second, another common issue that I have experienced is saying "yes" to something only to have that commit be more than I really understood. It's okay and important when that happens to go back to the person who asked you and say, "When I said yes what I understood was that I would be doing a, b, and c. I didn't know that this included d through h. I can't do that. I need to either step down or be allowed to only do a, b, and c."
Regarding scheduling bigger chunks--I common problem for many people is living on "idealized" time rather than "realistic" time. For example, in your head you decide it takes 8 minutes to get to work, but the reality is this only happens under absolute ideal circumstance. In other words, some one can get to church in 8 minutes if everything goes okay, but let's face the facts--How often does it ideally work? Seldom. So what happens? You are scurrying to get out the door, frantically looking at the clock with 10 minutes left. You get in the car and look at the clock in your car, it's a different time but you assure yourself that it's five minutes fast and your still okay. You probably are because you did set five minutes fast to enable you to play this idiotic stress filled dance. You are stressed at every red light, stop sign and slow driver. You find yourself behind the wheel saying things that ought not be said on the way to church (or anywhere for all that matters) at seniors who drive beneath the speed limit. You get to church at just the last minute or rushing in with apologies for being late. Does any of that sound familiar? If so, then you probably live out of an idealized perspective of time rather than a realistic perspective. Learned to think in terms of "I could get this done in 20 minutes, but I probably need to plan on 30 minutes to be on the safe side." or "I can get to church in 8 minutes but what would be so much better is to leave 15 minutes early so I can get there, switch gears and settle in." It's learning to make a shift from idealizing time to truly having ideally what is needed and desired. Start with one or two items that you habitually short change on time. Give ten, twenty or even thiry percent more time and see what happens. I think you find it incredibly stress reducing.
Here are a somes signs that probably indicate that you are living in too much of a hurry.
Peace from The Practical Disciple
Regarding saying no-- "I need to learn to say no, more" is the perennial anthem of rhythm lackers. But seldom are we taught much about saying no. I have a couple thoughts to help you.
First, why do you so often say yes. A typical yes saying scenario for me is...I get a request. I want to be helpful. I don't have a direct conflict and can't think of a better excuse than I am too busy. Being too busy sounds too cliche or like I don't know how to manage my life, so before you know it I have said yes to something I really am not invested in doing. As it approaches I find myself stressed, resentful, or resisting. That's no fun. So, what's the alternative. A friend of mine once shared with me the quote, "Self care is a holy obligation." The quote haunted me for awhile. I came to realize that time for my family, for rest and/or myself was a necessity. I learned that I needed to start examining why I said yes to things and only say yes if it was a purposeful yes. I frequently now will have a request from someone that involves an evening or weekend day that I really am not ready to give up. When that happens I am now totally comfortable with saying, "I am sorrow I can't. I have another commitment." Sometimes that commitment is downtime or margin. It's also perfectly okay to say, "I am really overcommitted and have no business taking that on right now."
Second, another common issue that I have experienced is saying "yes" to something only to have that commit be more than I really understood. It's okay and important when that happens to go back to the person who asked you and say, "When I said yes what I understood was that I would be doing a, b, and c. I didn't know that this included d through h. I can't do that. I need to either step down or be allowed to only do a, b, and c."
Regarding scheduling bigger chunks--I common problem for many people is living on "idealized" time rather than "realistic" time. For example, in your head you decide it takes 8 minutes to get to work, but the reality is this only happens under absolute ideal circumstance. In other words, some one can get to church in 8 minutes if everything goes okay, but let's face the facts--How often does it ideally work? Seldom. So what happens? You are scurrying to get out the door, frantically looking at the clock with 10 minutes left. You get in the car and look at the clock in your car, it's a different time but you assure yourself that it's five minutes fast and your still okay. You probably are because you did set five minutes fast to enable you to play this idiotic stress filled dance. You are stressed at every red light, stop sign and slow driver. You find yourself behind the wheel saying things that ought not be said on the way to church (or anywhere for all that matters) at seniors who drive beneath the speed limit. You get to church at just the last minute or rushing in with apologies for being late. Does any of that sound familiar? If so, then you probably live out of an idealized perspective of time rather than a realistic perspective. Learned to think in terms of "I could get this done in 20 minutes, but I probably need to plan on 30 minutes to be on the safe side." or "I can get to church in 8 minutes but what would be so much better is to leave 15 minutes early so I can get there, switch gears and settle in." It's learning to make a shift from idealizing time to truly having ideally what is needed and desired. Start with one or two items that you habitually short change on time. Give ten, twenty or even thiry percent more time and see what happens. I think you find it incredibly stress reducing.
Here are a somes signs that probably indicate that you are living in too much of a hurry.
- Constantly apologizing for being late or having work incomplete
- Mentally scurrying for excuses to offer for the above.
- Speeding in your car
- Jockeying for the ideal short line in the grocery store.
- Being angry that a person in the line you almost picked is checked out before you.
- Unable to get to sleep because you are trying to figure out how you will get it all done tomorrow
- Making bottomless "to do" list that never ever get to done.
- Adding things to your "to do" list that you complete, so you don't feel as bad about the ones that aren't finished.
- Physically getting sick when a commitment comes up that you said yes to do, but that you do not want to do and have no way out of. (That really happens. Your body will say no for your if you are not careful)
- Having to bail from commitments.
Peace from The Practical Disciple
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Living in the Rhythm--First Steps
As I seek to restore a more natural and healthy rhythm to my life, I am starting by exploring two issues. First, what are the culprits that actively promote an unhealthy pace of go, go, go and go more? Second, how can I restore margin in my life?
So what do I mean by margin? While once working serving as a President of a Habitat for Humanity affiliate, I was stretched to my limits when we took on building a house in one week. I had probably twenty phone calls that needed to be made. I gave every single phone call out in a board meeting. At first it seemed a bit unfair, but as I told the board, "I know that even as I give you these calls, others are stacking up on my answering machine." My statement was prophetic. I got home and found a half a dozen or more calls that had to be responded to. This was when I first recognized the wisdom of planned margin in my life.
I realized then that when we fill every possible moment, we are forgetting that life continues to happen despite our plans and has a nasty habit of invading those plans. So what happens when you have every minute filled even before the day starts and unplanned events occurs as they always do? Something must give no matter how important. When that happens to me I then have the stress of trying to figure out what must go and when will I ever get it done.
I know this and have practiced planned margin when I have been in crunch times, but I am now realizing that this needs to be a normative routine of life. Rather than having a to do list of impossible length, I am shifting to fewer items and planned holes in my schedule to allow for not only the interuptions of life, but opportunities as well.
Margin is my first practical strategy for living in a more natural rhythm. Next I will be going after the culprits of crunch. By "culprits of crunch" I mean those influences prodding me toward constant unsustainable activity.
As always, blessings to you from The Practical Disciple
So what do I mean by margin? While once working serving as a President of a Habitat for Humanity affiliate, I was stretched to my limits when we took on building a house in one week. I had probably twenty phone calls that needed to be made. I gave every single phone call out in a board meeting. At first it seemed a bit unfair, but as I told the board, "I know that even as I give you these calls, others are stacking up on my answering machine." My statement was prophetic. I got home and found a half a dozen or more calls that had to be responded to. This was when I first recognized the wisdom of planned margin in my life.
I realized then that when we fill every possible moment, we are forgetting that life continues to happen despite our plans and has a nasty habit of invading those plans. So what happens when you have every minute filled even before the day starts and unplanned events occurs as they always do? Something must give no matter how important. When that happens to me I then have the stress of trying to figure out what must go and when will I ever get it done.
I know this and have practiced planned margin when I have been in crunch times, but I am now realizing that this needs to be a normative routine of life. Rather than having a to do list of impossible length, I am shifting to fewer items and planned holes in my schedule to allow for not only the interuptions of life, but opportunities as well.
Margin is my first practical strategy for living in a more natural rhythm. Next I will be going after the culprits of crunch. By "culprits of crunch" I mean those influences prodding me toward constant unsustainable activity.
As always, blessings to you from The Practical Disciple
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Living in the Rythym
In prior posts, I spoke about a growing struggle among people in their ability to focus in prayer. In part, this seems to be a combination of fatigue and a general decline in our ability to concentrate on a single task rather than multi-tasking. We are constantly interruptible by cell phone calls, text messaging, or instant messages. Rapidly flowing commercial breaks, pop-up windows, and a stream of 1 to 3 minute youtube videos only exacerbates our ever-expanding restless attention spans. Yet even these factors are symptomatic of a malady far more fundamental.
Many of us are failing to observe any rhythm to life. There is a constant rush to fill each minute with either work or entertainment. Even each minute is intended to be filled with not just something, but multiple activities. The scurry is painfully evident in the frequent conversations I have with people who raise a resounding communal chorus of "I need to learn to say, No!" I meet moms and dads dressing children with clothes pulled direct from the dryer or out of a pile of washed but never folded laundry, eating from fast food bags and struggling with how to be in more than one place at once. The common tasks of life like cooking, cleaning, and maintaining our possessions can rapidly either be neglected or seen as drudgery. At the very least these tasks can seem overwhelming.
God designed creation with natural rhythms. Birds and animals observe the rhythm of a day. They have predictable patterns of sleeping, resting, hunting, and eating. They also observe seasonal patterns as do plants. There are times for nesting, explosive growth, gathering, mating, pollinating, producing fruit, hibernating, and lying dormant. Defiance of these patterns often results in death.
Go, Go, Go, Go and Go some more is not a natural rhythm, but it is a rhythm we have conditioned and enabled ourselves to observe sometimes with devastating consequencies: burn out, illness, depression, addiction, disease, failed marriages, disenfranchised children, lack of meaning and enjoyment, fatigue and/or death just to mention a few. Somewhere along the way we have lost a sense of healthy natural rhythm. Perhaps, a growing gap in our connection with the land has precipitated this loss. Or perhaps, somewhere in our arrogance we have begun to see creation as something we are separate from. In our minds, there is humankind and creation. Rather than human kind as part of creation. We have forgotten that we were created. We are one element of nature. What makes us think that we are so separate from the inescapable realities of day and night, seasons, aging and death that we can ignore or resist these pieces of rhythm without consequence?
So how do we begin to live within the rhythm of life rather than constantly oppose it? That's a question that I want to unpack over a series of blogs. One is not enough. Beginning to recognize the problem though is half of the battle. Think about your own life. What rhythm(s) do you observe? How do you flow between resting and working, being and doing, community and solitude? Give this some thought. How does the flow of your day fit or conflict with the natural flow of a day? Do the words "natural flow of a day" necessarily mean anything to you?
Blessings to you as you ponder these questions, from The Practical Disciple.
Many of us are failing to observe any rhythm to life. There is a constant rush to fill each minute with either work or entertainment. Even each minute is intended to be filled with not just something, but multiple activities. The scurry is painfully evident in the frequent conversations I have with people who raise a resounding communal chorus of "I need to learn to say, No!" I meet moms and dads dressing children with clothes pulled direct from the dryer or out of a pile of washed but never folded laundry, eating from fast food bags and struggling with how to be in more than one place at once. The common tasks of life like cooking, cleaning, and maintaining our possessions can rapidly either be neglected or seen as drudgery. At the very least these tasks can seem overwhelming.
God designed creation with natural rhythms. Birds and animals observe the rhythm of a day. They have predictable patterns of sleeping, resting, hunting, and eating. They also observe seasonal patterns as do plants. There are times for nesting, explosive growth, gathering, mating, pollinating, producing fruit, hibernating, and lying dormant. Defiance of these patterns often results in death.
Go, Go, Go, Go and Go some more is not a natural rhythm, but it is a rhythm we have conditioned and enabled ourselves to observe sometimes with devastating consequencies: burn out, illness, depression, addiction, disease, failed marriages, disenfranchised children, lack of meaning and enjoyment, fatigue and/or death just to mention a few. Somewhere along the way we have lost a sense of healthy natural rhythm. Perhaps, a growing gap in our connection with the land has precipitated this loss. Or perhaps, somewhere in our arrogance we have begun to see creation as something we are separate from. In our minds, there is humankind and creation. Rather than human kind as part of creation. We have forgotten that we were created. We are one element of nature. What makes us think that we are so separate from the inescapable realities of day and night, seasons, aging and death that we can ignore or resist these pieces of rhythm without consequence?
So how do we begin to live within the rhythm of life rather than constantly oppose it? That's a question that I want to unpack over a series of blogs. One is not enough. Beginning to recognize the problem though is half of the battle. Think about your own life. What rhythm(s) do you observe? How do you flow between resting and working, being and doing, community and solitude? Give this some thought. How does the flow of your day fit or conflict with the natural flow of a day? Do the words "natural flow of a day" necessarily mean anything to you?
Blessings to you as you ponder these questions, from The Practical Disciple.
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