Rhythm of Life – Part II
For me developing a rule of life is about developing a way of life in which we set the sails of our life to catch the wind of God’s Spirit. For living the Christian life is not a matter of trying harder, but of yielding to the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This year I am focusing on four areas, practices that help me with my: Intimacy with God, Loving the World (my friends and enemies), personal wholeness and creation care. The four things lost at the fall. Today I will share my rhythm of life in the first area, intimacy with God. I ask myself the question, what can I do daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually to better allow me to catch the wind of God’s Spirit in my life?
INTIMACY WITH GOD
Engage in practices that help me to appreciate the gifts of God, fall more in love with Jesus and walk in the power of the Spirit
- Daily get up with God by thanking him for all the good gifts he has given me, and practice gratitude throughout the day
- Daily read the scripture and books about the scripture that help me fall freshly in love with God, remember the big story and follow Him more fully, and then share what I learn with others through my personal interactions and my blog
- End each day with a night prayer (compline) and a simplified version of Ignatius practice: Stop, Look, Listen. To stop is to slow down to pay attention to what God is doing; to look is to relive the day, looking at what God is doing around me; to listen is to allow the Spirit to speak to me, encourage me, guide me or admonish me
- Weekly memorize and meditate on scripture
- Worship weekly with my spiritual community at Kairos, taking the time to focus on God, remember and reenact the story of God through the Christian calendar, and taking the time to tangibly remember Christ through the breaking of bread
- Weekly meet with various mentors in my life, including a monthly meet up with my spiritual director so that he might help me pay attention to what God is doing in my life
- Engage in monthly mini-retreats in different environments for silence, solitude and reflection, and quarterly ones to review my rhythm of life
Thanks this is really good stuff. I really appreciated the stop look and listen reflection to end your day. I definitely look forward to implementing this in my rhythm of life.
Jason,
Glad that you are finding the specifics helpful. I think you will get a lot out of the next section as well. Thanks for your comments.
Very well JR! Press on…