“How have you been?” When we hear this greetings among friends, what do you think is the most-often-heard answer?
“I’m so busy lately” can well be among the top responses.
We are living in such a fast-paced era that it is not only wearing our patience paper-thin, it also corrodes the reflective moments of our lives. For many of us, we are virtually living a margin-less life-style. Our plates are so full that we can easily reach the tipping point if anything extra is added to our plate. It is no wonder that we are running so low on patience for our families and loved ones.
I had been a stay-at-home mom for six years before returning to the job market a few years ago. I started my job as part-time minister, wanting to be able to take care all the after-school activities for my kids. Though the job was part-time, it was a full-time load. And so, for a long while, I was living in the fantasy, hoping to embrace the best of the both worlds: a fulfilling ministry and a rewarding home-life. In those days, I would rush into my office and jump right into the meetings. Time flew through the days, and before I knew it, I’d need to rush off to pick up the kids. The pace was so fast that I had no time for myself.
A break-through came about two years ago when I was reading the book by Bill Hybel, titled “The Power of a Whisper.” In the book, Pastor Bill recounted the advice his children gave him regarding how to safeguard his quiet time with God. Those few pages grabbed my attention. And I challenged myself do the same.
I started trying out a new routine: arriving at work at least one hour before office hour. The early morning hour is nice and calm. It allows me to start my day with Scripture reading and prayers without any interruptions. A slight adjustment in the routine made a day and night difference. From that point on, I have been able to start almost every day with a solid half-hour of prayer time to soak in the presence of the Lord. It is very amazing that, when we start our day attending to our heart, everything else seems to fall into the right place thereafter.
A month ago, I attended a Children’s Ministry conference and learned another tip in regards to organizing our routine effectively. Seth Dahl, the Children’s Pastor at Bethel church, shared his almost-burn-out journey and how his personal coach guided him to start his day earlier to safeguard his quiet time. Seth now starts his day at 5am each morning with Scripture reading and praying. Because his top priority is his spiritual health, it fuels him, enabling him to reach out and care for his flock the rest of the day.
I parked that concept at the back of my mind but didn’t really have any urgency to give it a try; I think that I am already in pretty good shape, in terms of arranging my morning routine. Last Thursday night, I was so worn-out that I had to call off my day earlier than usual. Instead, I woke up at 5am on Friday so that I could catch up. Boy, that early morning hour was so calm and sweet. Because I ended my day earlier, I actually got the same amount of sleep. But, having the one hour in the morning is so different from that one hour at night, when we are all tired at the end of the day and have so many distractions. Obviously, not every hour of the day is equal.
If you are in a season where your days are marked with chaotic moments, consider giving this new routine a try. In fact, why not start it this coming Sunday (11/1/2015). You may wonder what is so special about this Sunday? We actually gain one hour of sleep as we turn our clock backward to end the daylight-savings time. Instead of using that extra hour of bonus time to sleep in, we can take advantage of the fact that our biological clock is already waking us up an hour earlier, without having to actually set that alarm. And if we can keep it up, we can seamlessly integrate this morning habit into our routine.
Building up a new habit is never easy. But if we want it bad enough, it can happen. Let’s just do it. Let me conclude this post by sharing a quote:
"[Y]ou don't think yourself into a new way of acting, you act yourself into a new way of thinking . . . we believed that thinking is paramount-that thoughts turn into action. But it's actually the opposite. When you act your way into a new habit, the habit becomes your opinion about how you should do things, and that opinion becomes your character as a person or as an organization."
--- Brick by Brick: How LEGO Rewrote the Rules of Innovation and Conquered the Global Toy Industry
Everyone's personal and work schedules are different. What works for one may not be applicable for the other. But one thing that will ring true to most is this: we need to find the TIME and PLACE so we can build up a PATTERN with a sense of CONSISTENCY. And it needs to be a time and place that is WITHOUT INTERRUPTIONS. In other words, it has to be a time that you have full control. If you find that time and place and are able to safeguard it regularly, I am sure your soul would feel rested through practicing the presence of God. Give it a try! Once you taste the sweetness, you won't trade it for anything.
Here is the excerpt from Bill Hybels' book.
https://drive.google.com/a/rolcc.net/file/d/0B0kt1z753Ot2UmlCREFiLUFWN1E/view