Day 151- Thankful for routine and for new discoveries

A few days ago I ran a few errands that were necessary, like picking up my daughter’s meds at the pharmacy and buying a few groceries.

I left the car running when I went into the grocery store, and when I came back out, I got in and sat down in the driver’s seat.

My routine is to press the brake pedal and push the ignition button, which starts the car.

So, even though I knew and remembered that the car was already running, I pressed the brake and pushed the button, which actually turned off the car, since it was already running! Oops! 😆

We do things routinely every day, which is actually a good thing. If we didn’t have a certain amount of routine, that is things that we do without thinking about them, life would be very stressful (more than it already is)!

For example, if we actually had to think everyday about how to

• brush our hair,
• tie our shoes,
• boil water,
• make coffee,
• turn on the water or the lights,
• put one foot in front of the other to walk, or
• how to talk,

it would be really hard!

So routine is a good thing, even though sometimes I have yearned for less routine and more adventure!

But getting stuck in routine also can have disadvantages, like turning off the car instead of turning it on, or daydreaming while driving in routine places, which could cause an accident.

I believe we also need to be careful about our spiritual life and what parts of it are routine and what parts should not be.

It’s good to have a routine of when we sit down and open up our Bible, a time where we can be quiet before the Lord.

But if we’re not careful we can get into such an autopilot mode that:

• we are not really enjoying the Lord and not really communing with Him,
• we are just going through the motions,
• we are reading God’s word like a textbook instead of letting it infuse life into our souls,
• we are spending time with God because we should, to check off another obligation from our list,
• our pride kicks into gear, and we start thinking we’ve heard this before, and we stop really paying attention to what the words are really saying. We have relegated the words to the realm of the routine.

How do I know? Because I’ve been there and done that.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying that we should stop having a quiet time because it has become routine. If we are reading God’s word, he will eventually get our attention!

Rather, we need to confess our sin of relegating God to the realm of the routine, for forgetting how awesome He really is, for not loving Him with all we are, for not seeking first His reign and His righteousness in our lives, for allowing other pursuits to delight us more than Him.

Today, I’m thankful for routine and for new discoveries!

I’m thankful that God wants to delight us with His Presence!

“The secret of the LORD is for those who fear Him, And He will make them know His covenant.”  Psalm 25:14  NASB

I’m thankful that God forgives us when we repent and gives us more chances and help to get it right!

Prayer: Lord, we confess to You our sin of relegating You, Who are awesome, to the realm of mundane routine in our lives.

We’ve sinned against You by letting ourselves forget how awesome You really are and for not loving You with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength.

We’ve not sought first Your reign in our lives, and we’ve tried to substitute our paltry efforts at righteousness for Your Righteousness, which You offer to us freely in Christ.

We’re sorry for all these sins against You and for delighting ourselves in other things more than we delight ourselves in You, Who are beyond compare.

Cleanse us, please, Lord and restore us to a right relationship with You.  Help us to delight ourselves in You.

We surrender to You, Lord.

Please be glorified in and through our lives. In Jesus’ name we ask it,

Amen!

“Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4

How about you? Do you prefer routine or adventure or a mixture of the two? Have you ever found that your relationship with God has moved from adventure to routine? How did you get back the adventure in your relationship with Him?

Photo by Sai De Silva on Unsplash