There is something reassuring about routine.
You know where it is, you know what it s, you know when it will happen, you know when it will end, you know when it will start up again. You even get to know how to fix it if it goes broke or at least ensure it that it gets back into the track that it should be on. Sun rises, sun sets, it’s good to have.
It’s something we condition ourselves and something that we condition others to expect as well. There’s nothing wrong with it as such. Sometimes being faithful is about the reliability of routine.
The journey of faith, however, can often be a process of tearing away a lot of routine. Not necessarily all in one go, but it’s definite. It’s definite because there’s something about faith in a person who highlights the consequences of the relationship. It’s not all that different to what happens when intimacy takes place between two people.
Before I met her, I would eat at a certain time in a certain way. Before I met her, when the game came out you better believe I was going to buy it and play it. Before I met her I could do what I wanted whenever I wanted to a large degree. When I met her and sought to spend life with her things had to change. The changing of things did not end just because we got into a new routine, because no sooner would a rhythm be established then there was a recognition that to know more about her and respond to her in the light of that, further changes would have to be made.
It was a way of being shaped by her love and soon I had to get used to the familiar journey into unfamiliarity if I really wanted this relationship to be one of flourishing.
That was when I met her.
Knowing Jesus and getting to know Him is even more vast than that, because however much wonder and beauty there is in her was but a pale reflection of the wonder and beauty, truth and light to be found in Him. Unsurprisingly, just when I get comfortable and get into a decent shape in the relationship, He has no problems putting things out of shape to get me int the shape He calls for me. Not a shape of growing complacency and convenience, but a shape of the character of Christ.
Reassuring though routine can be, knowing and loving Jesus and reflecting that to others may call for a familiarity with unfamiliarity – eve if that bends you out of shape.
(Photo by James Connolly on Unsplash)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 