I’m exploring developing a rhythm and rule of life. Here’s what I’m aiming at in February. In a month, I’ll let you know how it’s going:
Spiritual
Read the Gospels every day. When I read Ed Dobson’s The Year of Living Like Jesus, I was struck by a comment the Ed received from his Jewish friends, basically along the lines of “how can you call Jesus your rabbi and not study his words daily?” So this year, I hope to start each day by reading a chapter or two of the gospels every day. Once I get through all four, I plan to mix it up with different translations and maybe some word studies.
Journal daily. Writing’s a big deal for me, but it’s kind of haphazard. Journaling is where I put my thoughts in order, or at least where I force myself to think through what I’ve been ignoring. Journaling is also the main way I pray. As I get better at this, I hope to develop other daily writing rhythms.
Physical
Keep a clean work area. I’ve never been a tidy guy. My hope is, that by changing that, I can create a personal culture of organization that flows into other areas of life.
Work out every day. Right now this isn’t too tough because I’m biking everywhere. But I’m in desperate need of some core training and flexibility.
Social
Go deeper with what you’ve got. I’m a part of a great church community, have co-workers I love, some great roommates and even a few old friends. However, I have lacked the intentionality of really developing those relationships. Let the happy hours and dinner parties ensue.
Drop in. One area of my life that is lacking is “drop in” relationships. The kind where you just make a quick phone call or knock on the door for dinner. My goal is to spend regular time “dropping in” on the people around me.
Romantic. I don’t plan on being single for life. This means meeting more ladies who love Jesus. Which probably means mixing up my rhythm and trying new things. I’m not sure how to make this a “practice.”
Academic
Stay ahead. Have you ever tried working full time and going to graduate school? It’s not ideal. To make it happen, I’m trying to devote one day a week to completing the following week’s work, always staying a week ahead.
Personal
Sabbath. I love Sundays, When I stay ahead, Sundays become monumentally lazy times of sleeping in, worshipping with my church community, eating too much, napping, and playing games. When I miss a Sunday, the following week is almost unbearable.
Read. This is going to be a tough one, since so much of what I am doing for school is made up of reading. But I fully intend to throw in books of personal interest and unashamed escapism.
Do new fun things. Most of my free time in Austin has been spent running and biking, swing dancing and eating at new places. All of these are good, but I desperately need to mix it up. On my to do list is: see more independent films, and take in a Roller Hockey game.
What practices keep you going and growing? What suggestions do you have to develop a rhythmic life?
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