Thank God for routines. Can you imagine how demanding life would be if we had to think about all of it? If, when we woke up every morning, we couldn’t complete our basic sunrise functions (grabbing a quick shower, fixing our breakfast, brushing our teeth) without developing a detailed plan?
In God’s infinite wisdom, we were created with an autopilot mechanism. Certain daily, repetitious acts can be programmed into our psyches and pulled off with almost no deliberation at all.
The problem is we sometimes choose the wrong things to put on autopilot – and we sometimes leave the wrong things off.
For instance, we’ll put amazing intentionality into finding the fastest-moving lane in the heavy traffic we encounter every morning… when we should just sit back and enjoy the routine. We’ll agonize over what to wear today… when no one else really cares what we choose. We’ll stress out over where to go to lunch… when it won’t truly matter 24 hours later.
These are things that were meant to be routines. Don’t over-think them. Set your autopilot.
But what about the things we’ve turned into routines that we never should have?
We’re in a relationship with a friend, a spouse, a child, and it ought to be a daily exploration of the unending mystery of that person we’re connected with… but instead, we’ve made it just a routine. “How was your day? Good. Mine too – wanna watch TV?”
Relational autopilot is slowly leading us toward disaster.
We’re committed to the process of growing spiritually, and it ought to be a daily quest to discover the deep love of God and see new facets of our own personality in the light of his presence… but instead, we’ve made it just a routine. Read a chapter. Mumble a prayer. Promise to be more focused tomorrow.
Spiritual autopilot is slowly leading us toward a lifeless faith.
What if we reversed this trend? What if we identified a few things that really matter to us – our friends, our spouse, our children, and above all, our relationship with God – and took all those things off autopilot? What if we made the things that actually matter practically matter in the amount of thought and passion we put into them?
And then what if we put nearly everything else on autopilot? What if we stopped caring whether we were able to pick up 45 extra seconds by changing lanes in traffic, choose just the right shirt, or make the perfect restaurant selection?
What if we turned all the time we can’t control into a routine and all the time we can control into an adventure?
Everyone needs areas of life in which we can simply go through the motions. But our relationships – with God and others – were never mean to be among them.
What do you need to put on – and take off – autopilot?
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