Have you ever felt stuck in your faith?
For over a year, that’s where I was with my relationship with God. I wondered where the intimacy had went. I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t seem to read the Bible and pray on a regular basis.
That was when God helped me to make one simple change. It’s so simple that it’s easy to dismiss. But this small change restored my relationship with God in a powerful way.
The Morning Rhythm
That change was establishing what I call a ‘morning rhythm’. Also known as a morning routine. Put simply, it’s a series of actions you do every morning to build habits through consistency. It’s a simple concept with powerful potential.
If you’re anything like me, your ‘morning brain’ is not very good at making decisions that align with your spiritual goals. That’s where the ‘morning rhythm’ comes in.
If you’re anything like me, your ‘morning brain’ is not very good at making decisions that align with your spiritual goals. That’s where the ‘morning rhythm’ comes in. You don’t have to think or make decisions when you wake up. You just get into the flow of actions you’ve already decided are best for you each morning.
For example, the two biggest priorities for me each morning are:
1. Quality time in prayer
2. Quality time in God’s Word
These are the two most important things I’ll do each day. A morning rhythm helps make sure these happen every morning.
When I decided I was going to wake up early and spend my first hour the same way every day, that's when things changed for me. I was never a big fan of structure in my faith. However, I've come to see it as a powerful tool in bringing about changes we desire.
The Freedom of Structure
As a creative person, I resist structure.
I always felt that structure would limit my creativity. It felt confining. It would prevent me from being able to ‘follow the Spirit’. Perhaps you can relate to these feelings?
My perspective on this changed after a mentor challenged me on my resistance to structure. He asked me to consider the way a tree grows. Without any structure, a tree would never reach the heights needed to bear fruit and provide shade. A tree has structure but it also bends with the wind. It has the ability to adapt and grows around obstacles. A tree has structure but it’s not rigid.
The same can be said of our lives. The key is making sure your structure submits to God’s Spirit. That’s when it has the potential to support life and creativity.
Without any structure, a tree would never reach the heights needed to bear fruit and provide shade. The same can be said of our lives.
Believe it or not—structure has helped me to spend more time with God and create more artwork. It's also helped me live out my Christian values much more effortlessly.
Find Your Rhythm
As I’ve looked into the lives of people who made a great difference in the world, almost all of them had some sort of morning rhythm. Even Jesus would wake up while it was still dark to spend time with the Father. There is something incredibly powerful about this simple practice.
I hope my story encourages you to implement your own 'morning rhythm'. To leverage the power of structure to do the things you most want to do.
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