Life-giving habits

The past several days have been a flurry of activity around our new home.  Just last night we unpacked the last of our boxes and sat back in the couch with a big sigh of relief.  I never realized moving could give you such a back ache!

Our little community hasn’t really had much time together yet.  Sure, we’ve spent time eating meals together, spending some good time out on the front porch under the stars (and with the bugs!) but there really hasn’t been much of a chance to spell out a lot of the things we want to be together. What kind of people do we want to become?

Take a look at the life of Saint Benedict.  He escaped the corruption of the power-hungry church of the sixth century and fled to a cave.   He spent years in solitude, and through that discovered that humans find life and meaning through habits and rhythms.  We are all creatures of habit, the question is what habits are forming who you are?  What are the habits that help you become who you want to be.  Benedict would always say, “it is not our ideas or words that shape us, but our regular experiences.”  Through a blending of intentional work, study, community, and prayer, we become more fully who God created us to be.
Think for a moment, what are the things in your life that are “life-giving habits”?  (the kind that you could miss a day or two of but after that you would feel less than yourself).  Do these habits include some measure of all four components?

It is easy to get side-tracked with the constant distractions I have in my life.  This move towards a closer proximity is not just about living in the same house together (we could rent a room out if that’s all we were looking for), it is about making space in the chaos to establish rhythms of life-giving habits.  I’ll continue to let you know how all this works out!

Share