Creating a New Normal
This is our church sign this week.
I love the message, as I believe many Christians would echo its sentiment. Now that we have time, we should absolutely spend time in the Word of God, more than ever before. We should be taking the 3 or more weeks we have been given for ourselves and our children to establish new habits that will draw us closer to God during this time.
However, the distance between the sentiment that we all agree with, as Christians, and its implementation is great. I would even venture to say that the distance to making this a reality in many well meaning families lives is greater today than it ever has been before.
It has been said that it takes somewhere between 21 to 28 days to establish a habit. This is how long it takes a routine to become a daily expectation in our minds, or the minds of our children. So we have been given a great gift by God amidst the quarantine. But it is work to get through those 3 to 4 weeks of time.
I have been on sabbatical for the last 2 1/2 months. So God has also given me a gift of working through these difficulties in what creating a new normal entails. I pray these insights will help you and your family.
My first six weeks were spent resting (which is good for a sabbatical), but unproductive at both home and in my spiritual walk (something I am not sure was a good thing). I binged watched an entire season or two of Star Trek: The Next Generation (no relation to the site) by myself and binged an entire season of American Ninja Warrior with my family. I slept until 10am every day. I had no idea what my routine should be and because I was on sabbatical, I didn't bother too much pondering what I should be doing next.
It is important to note during this time, I never once picked up my Bible to read. A sabbatical that was designed for rest and rejuvenation in the Lord had spent very little time with the One who provides rest for a weary soul (Mat. 10:28-30). Distraction in our electronic age and laziness (as opposed to real rest) had sabotaged the first part of my sabbatical. I didn't feel more rested through it. I actually felt more drained because of it.
As a parent who now may be working from home or home more often because you are not working, you may be feeling overwhelmed. You are weary and burdened in a different way than I was at the beginning of my time of rest. You may be worried about work and finances during this time. You may have been struggling this week as you had your children home unexpectedly trying to figure out what to do with them all week. Maybe like myself, you succumbed to the virtual babysitter more than you would like to admit. It's Saturday, and despite the intention of getting into the Word of God more during this time of quarantine, between the worry, uncertainty and unexpected chaos that home life has provided, maybe, like myself, you haven't picked up the Word of God to read either.
It's a recipe that makes you feel overwhelmed, drained and defeated, exactly where the enemy of our souls wants us to be. He wants us to throw up our hands say, "Why bother?" and hope that the quarantine doesn't last too long so we can get back to normal life, which may not have had too much of God in it for our families either.
However, the second half of my sabbatical has been a much different story. I have spent the beginning of almost every morning in prayer for 15-30 minutes and a lot more quick prayers throughout the days. I have spent another 30 minutes reading my Bible. I have spent about half of my days reading about an hour on Christian books that have encouraged my faith (finished 2 and on my 3rd now). I began to clean on the house (a welcome change according to my wife). We had people come to our house. We have also had people come clean our yard with us. We have checked on people in our church. We've looked for ways to serve others during this time.
This new change has rejuvenated me in a way that all my binge watching never could.
So what changed?
Simply put, a conviction for my need for Christ. You see the sign above is a good reminder of what we ought to do. However, without the conviction of the Holy Spirit of the need of Jesus permeating our lives and the lives of our children, we will never make time for Him. There will always be something shiny trying to grab our attention.
I could have said that it was the disciplines of the faith that reignited my passion for Jesus (Bible Reading, Prayer, Fellowship, Outreach/Service, Discipleship & Giving). However, the disciplines are a by-product of my conviction. To look at it any other way is to treat the disciplines of the faith as a duty or a way of salvation apart from the finished work of Christ.
You see, I desperately need Jesus. He is my life (Col. 3:4). He is my salvation (Acts 4:12). He gives me eternal life (John 3:16). He gives me life to the full (John 10:10). Because of Him, I count all this world has to offer as rubbish so that I might gain Christ (Phil. 3:7-11). So when I am far from God, I am told to draw near, so that He will draw near to me (James 4:8). But it starts with desperation. I have to care that I am far from God. I have to care that my children need Him.
If I don't have that, even if I had all the time in the world, I wouldn't seek Him...not for myself and not for my children.
So my encouragement to parents at this time, is make a plan for you and your children and stick to it. But make sure that your plan comes from your desperate need for Jesus, out of a heart of gratitude for what He has done for you. If you keep your desperate need for Christ before you, this conviction will motivate you to do the disciplines of the faith, even when they are hard or don't come naturally.
We all need Jesus. He is just giving us the opportunity over these next weeks to realize it and act on that need. The beauty of acting on that need is that Jesus promises through Him the very peace our souls are seeking in this time of desperation (John 14:27).
Lord bless you all in this journey. May your families come out stronger in the faith for Him because of this time.
I love the message, as I believe many Christians would echo its sentiment. Now that we have time, we should absolutely spend time in the Word of God, more than ever before. We should be taking the 3 or more weeks we have been given for ourselves and our children to establish new habits that will draw us closer to God during this time.
However, the distance between the sentiment that we all agree with, as Christians, and its implementation is great. I would even venture to say that the distance to making this a reality in many well meaning families lives is greater today than it ever has been before.
It has been said that it takes somewhere between 21 to 28 days to establish a habit. This is how long it takes a routine to become a daily expectation in our minds, or the minds of our children. So we have been given a great gift by God amidst the quarantine. But it is work to get through those 3 to 4 weeks of time.
I have been on sabbatical for the last 2 1/2 months. So God has also given me a gift of working through these difficulties in what creating a new normal entails. I pray these insights will help you and your family.
My first six weeks were spent resting (which is good for a sabbatical), but unproductive at both home and in my spiritual walk (something I am not sure was a good thing). I binged watched an entire season or two of Star Trek: The Next Generation (no relation to the site) by myself and binged an entire season of American Ninja Warrior with my family. I slept until 10am every day. I had no idea what my routine should be and because I was on sabbatical, I didn't bother too much pondering what I should be doing next.
It is important to note during this time, I never once picked up my Bible to read. A sabbatical that was designed for rest and rejuvenation in the Lord had spent very little time with the One who provides rest for a weary soul (Mat. 10:28-30). Distraction in our electronic age and laziness (as opposed to real rest) had sabotaged the first part of my sabbatical. I didn't feel more rested through it. I actually felt more drained because of it.
As a parent who now may be working from home or home more often because you are not working, you may be feeling overwhelmed. You are weary and burdened in a different way than I was at the beginning of my time of rest. You may be worried about work and finances during this time. You may have been struggling this week as you had your children home unexpectedly trying to figure out what to do with them all week. Maybe like myself, you succumbed to the virtual babysitter more than you would like to admit. It's Saturday, and despite the intention of getting into the Word of God more during this time of quarantine, between the worry, uncertainty and unexpected chaos that home life has provided, maybe, like myself, you haven't picked up the Word of God to read either.
It's a recipe that makes you feel overwhelmed, drained and defeated, exactly where the enemy of our souls wants us to be. He wants us to throw up our hands say, "Why bother?" and hope that the quarantine doesn't last too long so we can get back to normal life, which may not have had too much of God in it for our families either.
However, the second half of my sabbatical has been a much different story. I have spent the beginning of almost every morning in prayer for 15-30 minutes and a lot more quick prayers throughout the days. I have spent another 30 minutes reading my Bible. I have spent about half of my days reading about an hour on Christian books that have encouraged my faith (finished 2 and on my 3rd now). I began to clean on the house (a welcome change according to my wife). We had people come to our house. We have also had people come clean our yard with us. We have checked on people in our church. We've looked for ways to serve others during this time.
This new change has rejuvenated me in a way that all my binge watching never could.
So what changed?
Simply put, a conviction for my need for Christ. You see the sign above is a good reminder of what we ought to do. However, without the conviction of the Holy Spirit of the need of Jesus permeating our lives and the lives of our children, we will never make time for Him. There will always be something shiny trying to grab our attention.
I could have said that it was the disciplines of the faith that reignited my passion for Jesus (Bible Reading, Prayer, Fellowship, Outreach/Service, Discipleship & Giving). However, the disciplines are a by-product of my conviction. To look at it any other way is to treat the disciplines of the faith as a duty or a way of salvation apart from the finished work of Christ.
You see, I desperately need Jesus. He is my life (Col. 3:4). He is my salvation (Acts 4:12). He gives me eternal life (John 3:16). He gives me life to the full (John 10:10). Because of Him, I count all this world has to offer as rubbish so that I might gain Christ (Phil. 3:7-11). So when I am far from God, I am told to draw near, so that He will draw near to me (James 4:8). But it starts with desperation. I have to care that I am far from God. I have to care that my children need Him.
If I don't have that, even if I had all the time in the world, I wouldn't seek Him...not for myself and not for my children.
So my encouragement to parents at this time, is make a plan for you and your children and stick to it. But make sure that your plan comes from your desperate need for Jesus, out of a heart of gratitude for what He has done for you. If you keep your desperate need for Christ before you, this conviction will motivate you to do the disciplines of the faith, even when they are hard or don't come naturally.
We all need Jesus. He is just giving us the opportunity over these next weeks to realize it and act on that need. The beauty of acting on that need is that Jesus promises through Him the very peace our souls are seeking in this time of desperation (John 14:27).
Lord bless you all in this journey. May your families come out stronger in the faith for Him because of this time.
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