What I do

This is a "show and tell" post. I have always loved to read biographies, autobiographies, and journals of people I admire. I learn from seeing what they did and how they did it much better than I learn from reading "how to" books. So, humbly I pray, I offer you this little view of a morning routine.

I strive toward consistency in my times of Bible reading and prayer. I often fail but right now this is what I am doing each day. In detailing my routine for you, I do not mean to be prescriptive in any way. I simply want to show you what one struggling disciple does so that you might be encouraged to establish your own routine - if that is something you have not done. If you do have a routine, press on.

I keep my Bible, Valley of Vision, personal journal, and spiral bound prayer journal, and a couple of pens in a straw basket beside my desk. Right now, I am also keeping the book Mountain Breezes: The Collected Poems of Amy Carmichael in the basket. If the weather is nice, I sit on the swing on the screen porch. If it's not, I sit in the music room. Both places are quiet and private in the early morning. I usually make myself a cup of coffee and then take my basket from beside my desk and settle into my quiet place.


I start by reading the portion of scripture for the day. I am using the Discipleship Journal Bible reading plan and use the bookmarks that can be printed from the Bethlehem Baptist Church website. I have altered the plan and only use two bookmarks at a time. When I finish the scripture portions on these two, I'll go on to the next two. I don't worry about dates or months. I just check a portion when I've read it. I underline and mark up my Bible. I note particular verses that seem to speak directly to my life. After reading the Bible, I usually copy a verse or two in my journal and reflect on it. There is usually some application here as I think about what the verses I've just read are saying and how I apply them in my own life.



Once or twice during the week, I spend time reading and studying for our weekly small group. We're going through some Psalms right now and have a handout each week. I usually skip my bookmark reading on the days I prepare for small group so I can spend more time reading, answering the questions, and meditating on our verses for small group.

After Bible reading, I read a prayer from the book, Valley of Vision. I love these prayers. They are rich and so often capture in language that is more expressive than my own, the longings of my heart. I often write a section of one of these prayers in my personal journal and add my own written prayers of adoration, confession, or supplication.

For the last month, after reading Valley of Vision, I have been reading several pages each day of Amy Carmichael's poetry from the book I mentioned above, Mountain Breezes. I started reading these when my son went to India and decided to read through the entire book of poems. I've had the book for several years and had not read many of these poems, ever. Why read this poetry? It lifts my eyes and heart. It encourages. It gives words and images to thoughts and longings. Many people use hymns. I have done that at times but for now I am using dear Amy's poetry. If I find one I particularly like or want to remember, I write in the back flyleaf of the book the pages and titles and perhaps a small phrase to remind me of what the poem is about. I also date each page after I've read it so I will remember when I went through this book. You may not want to do as much marking up of your books as I do, but this is a book I will keep forever and one I go back to often. I want to remember where to find poems that I love.


Then I pray. My prayer notebook is divided into three sections: Family, The Body of Christ, and The World. I desire much more consistency in my prayer life and greater use of this little book as an effective tool. I jot down things I want to pray for and answers to prayer in the appropriate sections. I find that writing things down keeps me focused and helps me remember when I have told someone I will pray for them.


How long do I take each day? Depends. 15 minutes, 30, an hour. Some days are slow and quiet and I get up a bit earlier. Some days I have to get out the door sooner or pressing family needs intervene so my time is cut short. But, I always read my Bible first. And I always keep these books together in that basket so that if I want to grab it and go to another room later in the day I have all my "helps" together.

That's it. Pretty simple. It's a plan and I don't have to wonder each day what I'm going to do. Having a plan really is the first step in consistency. Yours will be different from mine. But I encourage you to develop a simple plan. Without one, you are likely to drift around...like a runner running aimlessly or a boxer beating the air. I don't think we have time to waste running aimlessly in the race of faith.

Post #3 in this week's focus on running the race of faith

Consistency

As we talked about Sunday's sermon over lunch after church and as we gathered to pray Sunday evening, there was a recurring theme in people's responses and prayers. We are inconsistent and lacking in discipline. In our race of faith, we fail to do what all serious athletes know they have to do. Make a plan and stick to it.

I have often failed in this regard. Too often I have thought, "It won't matter if I don't read my Bible today. I need to do _________ (fill in the blank) and I'll catch up tomorrow," or
"I'm too _______(busy,tired, distracted, you name it) to pray right now."

Coty used two quotes from coaches that stuck with me:

"When you miss training for one day you allow a
breach in the wall of routine."

and

"Run until the question of running never comes up."

Do I view spiritual disciplines in this way? Do I allow breaches in the wall of my routine that will eventually crack and eventually cause all routine to crumble away? The answer is yes, I have allowed breaches - many of them.

Do I read my Bible every day until the question of reading my Bible never comes up? The answer is no. This most important spiritual discipline continues at times to be weak in my life, though, by God's grace and with his enabling, I have been much more consistent in recent months.

I go back to a story and an image from Elisabeth Elliot's book The Shaping of a Christian Family. Elisabeth tells about how her own mother made time daily to meet with God,

"Not very early in the morning as my father did...but after the children left for school she went to her appointment with the Lord. I don't know when I first became aware of this....Mother always had her "little rocker" as she called it, in her bedroom, next to the little antique sewing table which stood under the window. On top of its crisp white linen cover was the neat stack of Bible, hymnbook, and the small red prayer notebook with a pen handy. Mother, as erect as Whistler's mother, sat in her rocking chair, reading, singing softly, praying, and occasionally jotting something in the margin of her Bible or in the notebook.."

Will my children remember their mother reading the Bible consistently? Will they picture in their minds a straw basket with Bible, Valley of Vision prayer book, journal, and prayer notebook? Will they picture their mother swinging gently on the porch swing, Bible in hand or curled up in the wing chair in the music room, head bowed. Will it be a consistent memory?

It is certainly not just for the memory in my children's minds that this consistency is important. Oh no. It is vitally important for now, for every day, for wisdom and discernment, for knowledge and understanding, for contentment and spurring on. It is as vital to my life as an Olympic athlete's consistent training is. No, it is more vital. Because, unlike the Olympic athlete who may only take his gold medal as far as the grave, the benefits of consistency in walking with God are eternal.

Coty said in the sermon, "consistency makes a statement to yourself, 'I am a child of God'." That's who I am. Spending time in the word is simply what a child of God does, like running is what a runner does. I can't live without it.

Post #2 in this week's focus on running the race of faith

He is a Runner

When I met my husband way back in 1977, he was a runner. I liked that about him. I didn't know anybody else who was so serious about running - or so good. He led the cross-country team that fall and in the spring he set the Davidson College outdoor 5000 meter record. It's a record that has yet to be broken!

He got me started running more seriously in college, though I would not say I was a runner in the sense that he was...and still is. I have run, seriously at times, but I am not a runner.

I'll never forget the first time we did the 10 mile loop at Davidson. As we came onto the main road of town after covering 9 1/2 miles of country roads, we met up with a professor friend of his who was out for a run. As the running prof came alongside us, the two of them picked up the pace. I thought I was going to die. I had just run longer than I'd ever run in my life and I was ready to slow down and crawl to the finish and here they were speeding up!! I think I kept up with them out of pride but my legs were killing me and I'm sure my heart was pounding. I was probably mad, too, but that may have spurred me to speed on to the finish.

Over the years I have stood beside the trail in the woods at cross country courses; planned out and then raced to the most strategic spots on a 26 mile marathon course to get there before the runners passed; bundled toddlers and babies up in heavy coats, hats, and mittens to cheer their Daddy on at Thanksgiving day races; driven to the top of a mountain to meet and then drive a weary Coty back down after he'd run the 12 miles up the mountain. I have cheered thrilling victories and witnessed the pain of my racing husband having to drop out because his body just wouldn't do what he was pushing it to do that day.

Many of our friends have heard the story of a time when, as the only white person in the stands at the Nairobi (Kenya) city track championship I watched my husband, the only white person in the race, drop out. The entire crowd moaned in unison as the announcer on the loud speaker shouted, "Oooooooooh, the mzungu* has dropped out!!!" And then they all turned and looked at me - or at least it felt like they did. I wanted to crawl in a hole and disappear.

Twice, I helped my Coty on crutches make his painful way to the car after knee surgery. How could he possibly run again after having shredded cartilage cut away? But each time, he did. Slowly at first, he worked his way back, learning how much his damaged knees could tolerate, how far and how fast he could go. He has never quit. He never will quit as long as his legs will carry him. He is a runner.

That is why when I heard that he was going to preach a sermon series entitled "Running the Race of Faith to Win the Crown of Righteousness", I got excited. That was why I couldn't wait to hear his exposition of biblical images of training and racing. I sat in the front row and I listened to my runner husband speak from his heart with delight and wisdom and experience about the race of faith. That was why I teared up during the sermon yesterday when he said, "I am a runner." I know he is a runner. I've lived with that runner for almost 29 years. And I know that he is a runner not just on the track and trails and roads, but a runner in the most important race of all, the race of faith.

If you want to be spurred on in your own race of faith, I hope you'll listen to these sermons over the next five weeks. Yesterday's sermon is already posted here. And I pray that you will be encouraged with me to "run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith..."


*mzungu means white man

Post #1 in this week's focus on running the race of faith