Exodus 31:17 17 It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’ ”
My day starts like this. I awaken. I make the bed. I open the blinds. I walk to the kitchen, gathering the items I need to have my devotions. I make by bowl of Muesli in the microwave. I make a cup of coffee. I sit down and take my pills for the day and begin my devotions. I eat while I am reading.
You have a rhythm to your day. Most people are creatures of habit. We put on our clothes the same way, in the same order. Our lives are filled with mundane tasks that get automated by their shear repetitive execution.
The best craftspeople in the world get better by repetition. Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni didn’t start his career working on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. He had painted and sketched thousands of hands and fingers before the famous God hand straining to reach humanity’s relaxed hand. Repeating the right things creates positive routines.
When I began playing trumpet many years ago, I learned that going fast just led to mistakes. And then if I repeated the mistakes enough, they became a habit. And undoing a habit is much more difficult than establishing a good habit! I had to learn to slow down and do it correctly from the beginning. Then I would be practicing it correctly and it would sound like it should.
I am learning to paint landscapes, so I have a goal of painting fifty paintings this year. Each one I am doing here at the beginning is focused on learning one aspect of landscapes. I am currently learning how to paint rock cliffs. I am trying to learn a technique that will consistently yield the results I like.
Israel is at the beginning of its community life as the people of the LORD. The LORD is establishing the rhythms that will sustain and guide them in their relationship with Him. Each element of the new routine is there to build in the rhythm of this new life.
One of the most fundamental is Sabbath. Work six days, rest one day. It seems so simple, and yet it was so difficult for them to execute. Remember, they had been thoroughly infused with the rhythms of slavery and of Egyptian culture. Those rhythms had to be unlearned and new ones woven into their fabric. That process takes time.
Are there rhythms in your life, habits that are woven into your fabric, which need to be unwoven and replaced? Start by envisioning what life would be like without that one rhythm. Then choose the replacement habit that you want instead. Then start that new habit and keep it up until it becomes part of your new rhythm.
Not very profound, but it works.
The Arnold Journey 