Peace In A Routine
One of the hard things about a time like this, when most of us are mostly at home, is simply learning how to respond to life. Some of us are working from our home, some are off, some tragically have lost their jobs at least temporarily. Everything is thrown off from what we are used to. But I am finding I can live life on purpose, and we can find peace in a routine, when nothing is routine. Let me share a few things God is teaching me about finding peace in a routine.
I Have Never Been An Early Person
In college I worked at a radio station from four until eight am. This meant I had to get up at 3:30, and I have never been an early person. One morning I really had a hard time getting up, I rolled out, threw on a sweatshirt and jeans and raced to the station. In those days, we had vinyl records and turntables. A board operator would select a song, put the needle on the record, play it until you heard a sound and then stop it. Then gently turn the record backward a half turn, so the song would start right on the button.
That morning, with bed head hair, scruffy clothes and three quarters asleep, I simply put the record on without cueing it up, and the song started with a terrible brrrrattttt. I immediately got a call from an old lady listening all night to the station who declared, “Get that rock and roll off of there!” I apologized, and she said, “Well I’ll pray for you”. Not a good day.
The problem was, it was an odd circumstance for me, and I was not responding to it well. So I decided I was going to do better. I went to bed earlier (that was part of the problem). I got up at three, took a shower, and got dressed in some nice clothes, even wore a tie. Because I was intentional, every thing about my odd situation was better, and I was better.
I hardly ever wear a tie anymore, perhaps some of you are bankers or attorneys who dress up all the time, but America is a lot more casual these days. What I would suggest though, is how about GET dressed! Get up, make the bed, don’t walk around in pajamas all day, make your hair presentable, even though we are at home, today is a day that is worth living. “This is the day which the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24). Part of finding peace in a routine is be there…. ALL there!
Embrace our Priorities
We need to remember that even in extraordinary circumstances that our life priorities are still the same. Jesus summed it up like this, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40). This is a pretty incredible statement, to sum up all our responsibilities under God, is to love God and love others.
Are we growing in our love for God and for others? Can we do that when we are sequestered? You bet we can, although I am looking forward to some handshakes and hugs when this is over. But God is right there, in our house. He always has been and He’s not going anywhere. Does time on our hands mean time for God? I hope so, he’s been patiently waiting while we run all over the place.
Embrace our work.
Perhaps we are working from home, as we do we need to embrace the work routine, and give it the honest effort of a servant of Christ, because it really is Him we work for. “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve” (Colossians 3:23,24). It’s easy to goof off when the boss is not watching. But He actually is, since we serve Christ. We will find peace in our hearts knowing we have done honest work well. “The sleep of the working man is pleasant” (Ecclesiastes 5:12).
Maybe you are laid off for a while, and there is work that needs to be done at home, inside or outside. That is one thing that social distancing allows for us. Are there chores that need to be done, things we have put off? Did you know that God values how we take care of our property? “I passed by the field of the sluggard and by the vineyard of the man lacking sense, and behold, it was completely overgrown with thistles; its surface was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. When I saw, I reflected upon it; I looked, and received instruction. ‘A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, then your poverty will come as a robber and your want like an armed man’” (Proverbs 24:30-34). Laying around on a recliner all day doesn’t profit us much.
Embrace our family.
Family is one of the things that suffers in a busy frantic routine. Perhaps this is the time that God will use to draw families closer together? One of the marks of turning to God in the last days was “He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers” (Malachi 4:6). I am not saying these are the last days, but the principle is a good one. Good things are happening in God’s economy when families draw closer together. Solomon wrote, “Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth” (Proverbs 5:18). It’s time to rekindle some things with each other.
I have seen the family across the street, Dad and Mom are out playing with the little girls. Out on the walking trail the other day I saw a young Mom drawing hopscotch on the sidewalk and playing with her two little ones. A family at church had a game night out on their driveway. Reams and flurries of kids sports practices are not happening right now. But wouldn’t it be a great thing to kick a ball with our kids or play catch out in the yard?
Did you ever notice how odd it is NOT to have all kinds of frantic activity? Really that is not a routine, we are just reacting to life and not living it. Let’s find peace in a routine, and embrace the things in our lives that we never should have let go of.
Chasing Sunsets – Pastor Clay’s Devotions
Contact Northwest Bible Church
