There are a number of specific routine activities that doctors and care facilities assess to make sure people are able to care for themselves. These daily routines fall into a few categories like, personal hygiene, dressing, eating, mobility and so on.
In the past, every time I would get thrown into the hospital for asthma and pneumonia, I knew that I had to assure the nurses that I could do all those things for myself before they would let me go home.
These are the regular things that ensure a healthy pattern for life.
In spite of the funny comments on social media about changing our day time pajamas into our night time pajamas, right now, we do need our routines. We need the steady pattern of getting up at the same hour, going to bed at the same time, eating our meals at regular intervals, and so on.
But I got to thinking about our current “stay-at-home” environment, and it occurs to me that we need to assess our spiritual ADLs as well. I am speaking about our regular devotional and prayer habits. It is so important that we continue (or if necessary, begin) our usual spiritual disciplines.
These spiritual disciplines help form the scaffolding of a well-formed spiritual life. We dare not neglect them.
Here are some suggestions that might be helpful.
- Begin your day with prayer. Use a pattern like the “Lord’s Prayer” to make sure you include worship and praise.
- Pick a book in the NT and read it slowly in the morning. Look for a current message from God’s Spirit for your own life. Write it down. (Might be a good time to start journaling.)
Reread that same book for an entire week. You will be amazed at the truth that just keeps pouring out at you.
- Make a list of some passages you would like to commit to memory. Write each passage on a few 3 X 5 cards. Post them around the house. Challenge your spouse or kids to learn them with you.
- Take a few minutes mid-day just for some silence. Think about what you read in the morning. Mull over the verses you are memorizing. Listen to the Lord!
- Make sure you have good music to play as a backdrop for your day. Sing along. ”Get lost” in the worship.
- End your day in prayer. Make sure that your prayer life includes a ton of gratitude. Again, be specific. “Thanks, Lord for the food in the pantry and refrigerators that work. Thank you for electricity that powers our internet and so on.”
“I sought the Lord and He answered me, He delivered me from all my fears.” Ps. 34
Thank you, Sherry, for you clear messages you leave us. You, or should I say, the Holy Spirit, through you, starts my day off on the right foot. I’m praying that you stay well.