I think the word "routine" gets a bad rap. As in:
- "Same old routine"
- "It was just another routine operation"
- "I've done that routine a thousand times"
The connotation? Routine = boring! I'm thinking differently these days.
This afternoon I fly home. Lord willing, I'll arrive at the Fort Lauderdale airport at 11:35 p.m., and be back in Boca by 12:30 a.m.
My current travel comes on the heels of Bethany's wedding last Saturday (click here for a picture). FYI, a marriage scores a 50 on the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale. In fact, I added up all the "life events" on their scale that loosely pertained to the wedding and I bagged 288 points (at 300 you have a high or very high risk of becoming ill in the near future). Who says good things can't kill you?
We also had 19 people in our home for the big event! Shannan and I loved it -- and it was pretty crazy!
The wedding came a week after we returned from a 5,000-mile road trip. We used that week to finish painting the house and the Monday after the wedding to move Bethany's furnishings to her new place and rearrange our own home with the new-found space.
I don't know how it is for you, but travel alone throws my routine in a tizzy. My quiet time with God suffers, my Bible reading suffers, my writing suffers, my exercise suffers . . . there's a whole lot of suffering going on!!
Yesterday, when I woke up a thousand miles from home on the 11th floor of a Louisville hotel room, this verse came to mind:
And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. Luke 4:16 ESV
Jesus had a custom of going to the synagogue on the Sabbath. It was his routine. The Apostle Paul also had a routine, as Luke describes for us in the book of Acts:
And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures. Acts 17:2 ESV
Their routines served them well. As I look back over the last month of my life, I've been missing "the same old routine." I want it back:
- Early morning walks.
- Unhurried time reading and praying.
- My writing hour.
- Slowing down to read great books.
It will be soooo good to be home. Tomorrow, "the same old routine" begins anew!
Question: What routine is essential for you to be at your best for God and for others? You can leave a comment by replying below.