Do you ever feel like you just need to recalibrate? Like you’re going about your life and something is just a little off?
It’s easy to get so sidetracked by the business of living life as it is that we lose our bearing on life as He intended. Think back 10 years. Is the life you’re living today what you envisioned then? Maybe you need to recalibrate to get back on track. Sometimes, we encounter sudden corrections and unforeseeable detours that jar us from the path we were previously on.
“Surprise, we’re pregnant!”
“I’m sorry, the chemo doesn’t seem to be working as well as we’d hoped…”
“We’re moving you up in the company.”
“We’re moving.”
Big events like these can knock us off track, but they also can help us to shake off everything that’s not central to our identity and propel us forward with new resolve toward who we will be. But it doesn’t have to take a life altering event like a 3 day stint in the belly of a whale or the loss of a job to help us do that. We can consistently recalibrate and make sure we are keeping our lives oriented around the mission and glory of God in our lives. We can step out of our routines and examine them. What has crept in that doesn’t need to be a regular part of our day? What has distracted us from what we were hoping for (and stolen our hope in the process)?
Here are a few ways to recalibrate:
1. Read Scripture and develop an ongoing conversation with God. This doesn’t have to be a knee aching hour in a prayer closet (though it could be), but we desperately need to be going about our lives in conversation with the Author of Life. There’s no quicker way to become disoriented than to neglect (or hide from) this conversation. What is God hearing from you? What does He have to say today?
2. Quit something(s). There seems to be a popular reductionism going on where minimizing is all the rage. I’m not a very trendy guy, but this is a bandwagon with some merit. Our lives are too full of things that don’t matter. Our lives are cluttered with school activities, social functions, sports leagues, “must see tv…” These can be good, wholesome things, but seriously, if there’s something you just can’t miss, it’s probably screwing up your life more than you know. Let it go.
3. Try something new. Take a class or join a new group of some kind. Meet some new people who aren’t all engrossed in the same patterns you’re already in. Don’t just jam your schedule full of new stuff, and don’t plan on doing all of these things indefinitely (see # 2 above – you don’t want to just clutter things up again), but once you’ve made some room to breathe, give some of that time to a new, worthy endeavor. Maybe you’ll try some stuff that just doesn’t work. That’s ok. Move on to something else. Maybe you’ll find some great reminders of the hope filled life we are called to live.
4. Go outside. This one really sucks right now where I live. It’s been colder than a meat locker for weeks here and we’re buried in snow that doesn’t seem to be leaving soon. But we need to escape the cocoons (or catacombs) of our cubicles and office spaces from time to time and breathe air that’s not stale and still. We need to feel dirt move when we take a step once in a while (or even hear the snow crunch!). We need to see wildlife run around and do their thing, oblivious to our presence. Let Creation remind you that you’re not just scurrying around like that ~ God is with you. He’s crafted you for something. What is it?
Good stuff Mike. Big focus for me this year. Less is more. Funny how convicting my uncomfortableness with doing less is. 🙂
Also funny how the stuff I write that resonates most with people is the stuff I need to be listening to myself!