Mark 1:35 “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went off to a solitary place where he prayed.”
Jesus modeled a regular rhythm of “Being with God” followed by “Doing for God” (i.e. activity). As a result, He remained anchored and centered amidst the chaos and stress around Him. Take the following inventory to evaluate your rhythms: Is Your Doing Out of Balance with Your Being?
- You avoid silence, and when you are quiet, your mind constantly races.
- You skip or skim on Sabbath.
- You hurry a lot.
- You position yourself so that others think well of you
- You say “yes’ when you would rather say “no”
- You are resentful and tired because you regularly “try to do it all.”
- You rarely taste your food as a gift of God.
- You have little mindfulness of delighting in Christ’s love during the day.
- You are often unaware when your body is full of tension.
- You have little or no awareness when you are having an overreaction.
- You check e-mail and Facebook more than 15x a day and before you go to bed.
If you checked 3, you may be slightly out of balance. If you checked 4-7, you probably need more “Being with God” to sustain your “Doing.” If you scored 8 or more, you may need an extreme makeover! If Jesus needed to tend to His interior life by engaging in desert rhythms, how much more do you and I? What might you add to the above inventory that indicate that you or I need more time BE with God to sustain our DOING? See the full sermon here: http://www.vimeo.com/17504646
