Routine

I've been living in a new place for about a month now, and I have been attempting to "settle in". What this entails, normally, is finding my way about town, cleaning and arranging my abode, and developing a routine. Let's camp out on this routine and what that word means in all practicality.

Routine means first that I have a basic morning and evening practice. This practice hasn't changed much in my life, and it is one of the ways I can transition easily from one place to another. Putting in contacts, brushing teeth, and showering are all practices I have rarely had to give up for extended periods of time. In fact, it would not be out-of-line to say that part of my "identity" is found in this routine. I do the same thing everyday. Even in the shower I follow the order I always have. Part of the reason for that is logical; I bathe from top, down. Naturally, I'm going to shampoo before using body wash (yes, I use body wash...nothing to be ashamed of...I like the feel of loofahs). Enough about me showering, though. Let's continue with the point.

Establishing a routine also has it's play in other activities, such as laundry. Since I've moved, I wash my clothes on Wednesdays. I didn't choose this day for any particular reason; it just happened to be the first day I washed clothes, and thus the cycle began. There is probably enough to say about laundry to fill another post, but let me just point out how different it is going from having always used a dryer to hanging clothes on a rack outside. IT'S VERY DIFFERENT. I'm no stranger to laundry; I've been washing clothes ever since I was tall enough to reach over the machine to press the button. I'm incredibly grateful to my parents for making me do laundry all this time, but it made me accustomed to using a dryer and all the benefits that go with it. For instance, the warm feel of linen when you take towells out as soon as they're done. Also, I've rarely had to iron. When you take clothes right out of the dryer and then proceed to hang them up or fold them, most of the time the wrinkles are already out (at least enough to satisfy me; you may think otherwise). Hanging clothes makes them stiff and dry, and they don't shrink back. I'm pretty sure I have a white streak across one of my t-shirts, too. That's not the point of this post, though, to talk about my laundry habits and my likes and dislikes concerning dryers. The point has to do with routine.

There's a whole slew of events that we all do that is in a routine. From grocery shopping to going to church, most people, myself included, set their lives up in a particular way so as to ascertain a particular result. For most, it seems that routine is established so that there may be time for other activities either recreational or profitable by some other means. In our current day and age [I really like that phrase], some type of routine is "forced" upon individuals by circumstance. A couple who unexpectedly becomes pregnant now must rearrange their lives to accommodate for this "surprising bundle of joy". Or the family who experiences an accident and is overwhelmed by hospital bills must now try and work additional jobs to pay off their debt.  However, these circumstances can often be a result of poor planning and neglect in the first place.

While these events do occur more than we would like, most people, when possible, form their lives and routines around the idea of accomplishing something. Being a Christian, I've observed this phenomenon both in believers and non-believers alike. Here's why I think we Christians may be misguided. The teachings of Jesus completely revolutionize human thought, and one of the ideas that is at the root of all Biblical understanding is that routine (or way of life) should not only be influenced but entirely established by the Gospel. Before I get ahead of myself, let me say that I am not against the practice of spiritual disciplines. I believe that setting up a routine that brings me closer to God is clearly taught in Scripture and falls directly in line with my main thought here. My point in this post is to shed light on the idea that we can very easily find ourselves establishing a routine giving no consideration to living a life obedient to the Gospel. What then happens is that we fill our time with things that may even be good, but we still are not living our lives as Jesus would live them. When convicted of this or that area of our life, we immediately feel we don't have time.

There's also something to be said about setting up a spiritually disciplined routine before becoming obedient to the Gospel. Like I said before, I am a strong advocate for establishing spiritual disciplines as a part of routine. What I find misguided, though, is setting up our lives in a certain way for the purpose of the Gospel before we have become obedient to the Gospel to begin with. It's putting the cart before the horse, so to speak.

I don't feel like I've completely explained what I'm trying to say because there are still holes. I have not come to completely understand this concept, but I have felt convicted of it just the same. I keep going back to the well-quoted verse, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given unto you". In other words, let us become obedient to what the Gospel clearly commands and let our lives be formed (or let a routine be established) in natural response.