If you were to ask someone about their life, chances are high they will respond with the common answer of “busy.” As a whole, we are simply busy people. There are seasons in our life that are busier than others. Last time I wrote an article for SOKY we had just given birth to our first child. Now, I am writing you this article four years later with two kids running around, and a seven-week-old baby.
For the most part, we all have legitimate reasons why we are busy. However, I think it is extremely beneficial to our family, neighbors and community that we don’t get stuck in the busy machine.
We are all given the same amount of time each day and how we spend that time is important. It’s a significant opportunity that matters to those around us, and it also matters to God. Everything we do from working, playing, resting and running around is important.
Today, I want to challenge us on the ordinary, monotonous routines that shape who we are and who we are becoming. I want to talk about habits. The world has a rhythm and we oftentimes don’t even know we are in it. How many times do we wake up, first to look at our phones? Next thing we know, five minutes have gone by. We are scrolling and quickly processing through social media, emails, to-do lists, etc.
I think it is our responsibility to be proactive about how we set our intentions each day. We are living in a world where our time can easily slip out of our control. Many of us are living life filled with unnecessary stress and anxiety that makes us feel like we have to do an over-exceeding amount in order to keep up.
So the question is: how do we gain control of our time? We set up what is called a rule of life. A rule of life is a set of habits you build for the purpose of growing in your love for God, your love for family, friends and neighbors.
The thing about a rule of life is that we are establishing one whether we know it or not. We are formed by our habits, and what we are giving our time to definitely shapes who we are. So what does your time prioritize?
I highly encourage everyone to do an experiment. Take two days, a normal “work day” and a normal “day off,” to log nearly everything you do. I encourage you to note what you are doing and the amount of time spent doing whatever that is. What you’ll realize is that you have been given so much time that you didn’t even know you had! You will realize that you spend more time doing things that are unnecessary, yet absolutely influence your day and shape who you are becoming.
My hope is that you don’t read this as just another “try harder” and “be better” message. This is extremely spiritual. As we prioritize our time, it expands our opportunity for worship, community, and service.
I would like to share with you a few daily habits I practice that have helped calibrate my time, energy and focus that I give to myself and others.
First, I pray in the morning. Each morning I pray the Lord’s Prayer. The Lord’s Prayer is formational for me. I realized in the mornings my prayers shifted quickly depending how I was feeling. I learned that in the mornings when I was stressed, lazy, selfish or angry, my prayer reflected those emotions. I still pray those prayers throughout the day, but I have started with an outline that is truth. The Lord’s Prayer can be found in Matthew 6.
The second thing I do is I read scripture before I get on my phone. We daydream about versions of ourselves that we hope to become. Regular reading of scripture reorients our thinking so that we can grow in maturity, which helps us become the people we are supposed to become.
The third daily habit that helps me is that I spend one hour a day with my phone off. Phones can scatter our presence until there isn’t much left of our attention. If we have limited attention, we have limited presence amongst each other. I love checking scores, listening to podcasts, reading articles, etc. But I have a rule to put my phone away for one hour a day to make sure I am completely present with those around me.
The last daily habit I would like to share is very important to me, and that is daily exercise. I believe each human is three parts: body, mind and spirit. Our body is the physical container that holds our thoughts, emotions, heart and spirit. When we protect our bodies we are not only protecting our physical heart, but we are protecting our dreams, our values and our vision for what God has for us.
I encourage you to take control of your day. It’s possible to develop new habits that are important and unique to you. I encourage you to think bigger than daily habits, but to also develop weekly habits such as a day of rest, date night, game night, etc.
I will leave you with a quote from artist Tim Kasher who wrote in a song, “I spent the best years of my life waiting on the best years of my life.” If we aren’t careful, our time will slip away to unnecessary worry, stress and anxiety. We hope the next season will bail us out, but that is not always the case. We have to make changes in our life at times in order to be effective.
-by Jonathan Harrell
