Routine

Back in the village with my girl, Winnie!
(and her new dress!)

The reason I haven't been writing much about our weekly projects recently is because they've been the same for about a month and a half. This week wasn't different either. I think it's safe to say we've got a routine down. While routine isn't really a bad thing, it scares me! Any time I realize that I've settled into a routine, there's a little warning light that goes off in my mind, like God saying, "Emily! In your routine in everyday activities, don't let our relationship and My Presence become just 'routine.' Don't let the things you see and experience become something you dismiss as normal because you've seen them so much - the children and adults begging on the side of the road, the 10 year old caring for 3 younger siblings, the family that struggles to find meals each day - don't let your heart be calloused to these things because of repetition and routine."

Yeah, I know. She's just too cute!!

My family used to go to Colorado for vacation every summer. We would set up camp on some friends' land and drive all around the mountains. I loved it there!! The Rocky Mountains were some of the most beautiful and majestic things I'd ever seen. Everything about them - the smell of the pine trees, the sound of the little creek in our campsite, and the fresh, cool air in the mornings - all of it amazed me and put me in awe of who God is. However, when people ask me if I'd ever want to live there, I have to think twice. Why? Because I absolutely dread the day that I look up at those mountains and they seem normal, commonplace. That's exactly what I'm talking about in my relationship with God. I don't want to sit in God's presence, meet with Him, dwell in Him, and not be in awe of who He is. How many times have we heard familiar scriptures about Him, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life," and "The LORD is good; His love endures forever." I'll bet half of you just skimmed over those verses, right? You've heard them so much, you know them. But God wants us to know them!! He wants us to know Him, and obviously, He is not commonplace.

Grace & I

When we get into a routine of how we spend time with God, we run a risk of "forgetting" who God really is. Routine isn't necessarily a bad thing - it's good to have time set aside just to focus on Him and be in His Presence - but when it becomes more about the time, more about getting your study done, more about checking everything off your prayer list than it is about sitting and dwelling in the Presence of the King of Kings, Loving God, Righteous Judge, and Only Savior.... That’s when we have a problem. We cannot let routine overshadow the reason we made the routine in the first place – to know Him more.

Shakira and I

In the same way, I can’t allow routine to lessen my compassion for the hurting people I see all around me. You know, personally, I think routine is one of Satan’s biggest attacks on us – because when we get comfortable with everything, that’s when we don’t “feel” like we need a God. I want to remain uncomfortable in this world. Comfort is waiting for me in Heaven, but here, I want to be uncomfortable, out of routine, dependent on Him, so that I will never turn away from Him and try to do it on my own, so that I will always be in awe of Him.