About a month ago, as part of our staff development at our
church, we were asked to write a “Rule of Life.” This Rule of Life idea comes
from a book entitled “Sacred Rhythms” by Ruth Haley Barton. We each wrote
individual plans for spiritual disciplines in our lives. We spent time praying
and seeking God about what kind of routine or “sacred rhythm” he designed us
for.
I kept my rule of life pretty simple. As a 50-something mom
of a preschooler as well as an adult child, a wife, a daughter of aging
parents, and staff member at our church, my life is pretty full. Just finding a
way to have enough energy to make it through each day can be a challenge!
One of the items in my rule of life is a weekly appointment
with God at a local coffee shop after I drop my daughter off for preschool.
This is my time to read, journal, and sometimes blog. I still have my regular
quiet time at home early in the mornings, but this is to be a time when I go a
little deeper… when I allow God to dig a little deeper into my “junk.”
It’s becoming increasingly difficult for me to keep this
appointment. Not because I don’t enjoy it and look forward to it, but because I
feel guilty. I am tempted to just go on into work because I have a long “to-do”
list there. I feel selfish about spending time alone with a wonderful cup of
Snickerdoodle coffee or sometimes even a “Sweet Razzy” latte. I feel like I
should be “out there accomplishing something!”
It’s so much easier to be “out there accomplishing something”
than it is to turn introspective and be brutally honest with myself about why I
struggle with certain things. Checking things off my to-do list is, in the
short term, so much more rewarding.
But for the long term, oh, how I need to be transformed! How
I need my perspective to be changed! How I need to allow God to sort through my
junk. Maybe that’s why this kind of thing is called a discipline, a spiritual
discipline.
