I heard the phrase "thrives on routine" a few days ago. I know it's a commonly accepted virtue nowadays. For most people it carries a virtue in it, or simply describes the way one is designed.
Do we do this because we only have so much attention? We must make things happen in a way that doesn't require the mind to complete what has to be done? That we can "get away" with mindless work or use "spare time" in a way that pleases us? Does forcing a routine simply mean I am trying to manage multiple yokes: motherhood, generosity, diligence, learning, relationships, disciple-making, money-making/keeping? Even with expertly managed routines, multiple yokes are exhausting. This is not The Life.
I believe discipline is very, very different than religion. Being a disciple requires attention...when Christ appointed the apostles and they were writing letters and spending energy and time on people they loved, with their attention and gifts, they were called "followers of the Way". With the present discipleship of Jesus in my life, I do not identify with the term "Christian". Christianity, in my mind, has connotations of Pharisaic behaviors, "we" do this, "we" don't do that, "we" "go to church"...and none of that feels of the authentic, attentive yoke of Jesus...at least not the Way that He has revealed Himself to me.
After the words "thriving on routine" ruminated a few days, I wondered what it was about it that raised a red flag. I personally have had years of repetitive, possibly "good" habits. While I appeared to be living well, I would now call them fruitless years. Because I was separating what was Good from the Author. Separating my attention to different pursuits and pleasures. My mind measured success based on how well I clung to my religious ideas.
So I asked the Spirit to speak on it so that I didn't go off making up my own opinions in self righteousness. What He said to me, I will call "the Word of the Lord". Because when He speaks, I have to recieve it with the weight of His authority, and not try to put my own spin on it to manipulate or condemn anyone of their own sin...that's not what He speaks to me for! It is for MY discipleship, MY motherhood, MY daily attention and what it gets used for.
The Word of the Lord came to me while I was doing the things He's called me to do--spending my attention on willingly, WITH the mind/will engaged in His pleasure, nourishing my family with joy in my heart.
(In regard to your children) "it is to cultivate a desire to control one's time"
Control. This word repeatedly comes around as one of the prime idols of our day.
"When you need things 'just so', or 'a certain way', you lose the capacity to [follow the Spirit's word;The Word Of The Lord]. Spending time with attention to Christ's yoke, it is a frequent occurence that I need to confess that "my" time is not mine, "my" body isn't mine...and the more often I do this, the more likely I am to SEE and HEAR what the Spirit asks me to do in His name, for His glory, and the less likely I will try to claim ownership of the Good Things He is doing (in me, through me) for His glory.
This is the way religion opposes, stifles, quenches FAITH. Life in the Spirit.
Faith is unseen. You cannot see what is coming, what He is going to decide to do with "your" time, "your" body, "your" mind...until He's doing it. Under this yoke, there is no room for religion. Religion is systematic. Repetitive. Dead. Fruitless.
Be awake. Alert. "For YOU KNOW in your hearts and souls, ALL of you, that not one WORD has failed of all the Good Things the Lord YOUR God has promised concerning you...and just as the all the Good Things that the Lord your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, [[so the Lord will allow to destroy you the wicked things you are choosing to pursue...things disintegrated and of no substance, if your attention is willfully spent on what cannot profit."]] joshua 23
To "thrive on routine" might actually be death in disguise.
Fear is the excrement of idols.
Religion (form-keeping, routine-managing)is one manifestation of the idol of control.
Sh'ma Yisra'eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad.
One. There is no separation. My inhabiting His wholeness and completeness depends on how I spend my attention. This is why the next words are "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength". The mind, the body and the spirit are only ONE and at home, filled and satisfied when the MIND, the attention is completely engaged in His Life. Routine is fully dead next to this. Separation is the identifier of the Enemy's works. What is separated from Life is dead. I cannot split attention between "the way I do things" and The Way.
With me. Immanuel. As a parent, discipleship depends on my complete attention to the yoke. How time, attention and energy are spent. As a disciple, my learning depends on my complete attention to the One I am yoked to in the same way. I cannot separate parenthood from discipleship, I cannot separate the work entrusted to me as a mother from His cultivation of my Good. If He is One, I have to know that His design is complete, and I cannot decide that there is anything else "more important" to be doing, so that I consolidate things I must do, hurry through anything to get to anything else, or spend attention on religious habits.
This is the factor that decides our joy and contentment, or fear and anxiety: the wholeness of our being, or the disintegration of the attention.
Do we do this because we only have so much attention? We must make things happen in a way that doesn't require the mind to complete what has to be done? That we can "get away" with mindless work or use "spare time" in a way that pleases us? Does forcing a routine simply mean I am trying to manage multiple yokes: motherhood, generosity, diligence, learning, relationships, disciple-making, money-making/keeping? Even with expertly managed routines, multiple yokes are exhausting. This is not The Life.
I believe discipline is very, very different than religion. Being a disciple requires attention...when Christ appointed the apostles and they were writing letters and spending energy and time on people they loved, with their attention and gifts, they were called "followers of the Way". With the present discipleship of Jesus in my life, I do not identify with the term "Christian". Christianity, in my mind, has connotations of Pharisaic behaviors, "we" do this, "we" don't do that, "we" "go to church"...and none of that feels of the authentic, attentive yoke of Jesus...at least not the Way that He has revealed Himself to me.
After the words "thriving on routine" ruminated a few days, I wondered what it was about it that raised a red flag. I personally have had years of repetitive, possibly "good" habits. While I appeared to be living well, I would now call them fruitless years. Because I was separating what was Good from the Author. Separating my attention to different pursuits and pleasures. My mind measured success based on how well I clung to my religious ideas.
So I asked the Spirit to speak on it so that I didn't go off making up my own opinions in self righteousness. What He said to me, I will call "the Word of the Lord". Because when He speaks, I have to recieve it with the weight of His authority, and not try to put my own spin on it to manipulate or condemn anyone of their own sin...that's not what He speaks to me for! It is for MY discipleship, MY motherhood, MY daily attention and what it gets used for.
The Word of the Lord came to me while I was doing the things He's called me to do--spending my attention on willingly, WITH the mind/will engaged in His pleasure, nourishing my family with joy in my heart.
(In regard to your children) "it is to cultivate a desire to control one's time"
Control. This word repeatedly comes around as one of the prime idols of our day.
"When you need things 'just so', or 'a certain way', you lose the capacity to [follow the Spirit's word;The Word Of The Lord]. Spending time with attention to Christ's yoke, it is a frequent occurence that I need to confess that "my" time is not mine, "my" body isn't mine...and the more often I do this, the more likely I am to SEE and HEAR what the Spirit asks me to do in His name, for His glory, and the less likely I will try to claim ownership of the Good Things He is doing (in me, through me) for His glory.
This is the way religion opposes, stifles, quenches FAITH. Life in the Spirit.
Faith is unseen. You cannot see what is coming, what He is going to decide to do with "your" time, "your" body, "your" mind...until He's doing it. Under this yoke, there is no room for religion. Religion is systematic. Repetitive. Dead. Fruitless.
Be awake. Alert. "For YOU KNOW in your hearts and souls, ALL of you, that not one WORD has failed of all the Good Things the Lord YOUR God has promised concerning you...and just as the all the Good Things that the Lord your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, [[so the Lord will allow to destroy you the wicked things you are choosing to pursue...things disintegrated and of no substance, if your attention is willfully spent on what cannot profit."]] joshua 23
To "thrive on routine" might actually be death in disguise.
Fear is the excrement of idols.
Religion (form-keeping, routine-managing)is one manifestation of the idol of control.
Sh'ma Yisra'eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad.
One. There is no separation. My inhabiting His wholeness and completeness depends on how I spend my attention. This is why the next words are "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength". The mind, the body and the spirit are only ONE and at home, filled and satisfied when the MIND, the attention is completely engaged in His Life. Routine is fully dead next to this. Separation is the identifier of the Enemy's works. What is separated from Life is dead. I cannot split attention between "the way I do things" and The Way.
With me. Immanuel. As a parent, discipleship depends on my complete attention to the yoke. How time, attention and energy are spent. As a disciple, my learning depends on my complete attention to the One I am yoked to in the same way. I cannot separate parenthood from discipleship, I cannot separate the work entrusted to me as a mother from His cultivation of my Good. If He is One, I have to know that His design is complete, and I cannot decide that there is anything else "more important" to be doing, so that I consolidate things I must do, hurry through anything to get to anything else, or spend attention on religious habits.
This is the factor that decides our joy and contentment, or fear and anxiety: the wholeness of our being, or the disintegration of the attention.
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