Iphone alarm at 6:00, fill coffee maker and start it at 6:07, sit still and be silent in the early morning quite (until the coffee has finished brewing) at 6:08, and then today — compose this article at 6:30. This is my general wake-up routine. Sure there is some variation but much like running an autumn race for which you’ve been training all summer, it’s one foot in front of the other. This is my autopilot mode.
Welcome to the 60th issue of Faith & Fitness Magazine. I’ve waited a long time to be able to say that. I’ve been told that a magazine has to be in consistent publication for a total of three years before anyone really starts to take it seriously. I made it past that milestone quite a while ago. Today, we arrive at yet another – a decade of helping you grow physically and spiritually. To see how it all began read the About Us page. In it I talk about the quest to create unique content. Our stories articulate the role faith plays in our favorite lifestyle activities.
There was someone else that had to take this magazine ministry seriously from the very beginning — me. Yes, it was compelling and motivational to believe I was being obedient to God and His calling on my life. It was more sobering to realize this was something God would accomplish – with or without me. There is a race for all of us to run. We choose to participate. We commit to do well. By grace we win. Sixty issues later God has graciously guided and faithfully grown this work through a process of routine.
A good workout routine is comprised of repeatedly giving your physical body effective exercise. A bad physical routine that is careless includes unhealthy food choices and eating habits, lack of sleep and recovery time, high-repetition/low-challenging or improper movements that can cause injury and overall inattention, sloppiness or lack of focus. A bad physical routine that is intentional is characterized by knowingly using things that can harm you and persisting to your detriment by ignoring wisdom and warning signs. Good or bad, life is often built on ROUTINE. It can be easy to get into bad routines. To build good routines it helps to know the defining qualities. These ‘routine’ characteristics are evident in a good physical workout, an intentional lifestyle and in the very core of our spiritual design – your faith.
DETERMINATION AND PERSISTENCE – What is your “Don’t give up” attitude? That is the strength when no one else stands with you. It is the hope that drives you to go forward and go hard beyond reasoning, popular consensus and even obligation.
LISTENING AND LEARNING – This is your capacity to take every experience in every moment and process it into a God-given opportunity to grow. It is fueled by persistent humility and eagerness to discover and apply. You do this best when you realize that to be like God is to be free from the narrow limits that control and destroy.
CONFIDENCE AND BARING – These are markers placed throughout routine to guide us. They are the tried and tested that give us familiarity and assurance. These qualities provide a recognizable spiritual genetic fingerprint to the repeating but continually evolving journey.
MEASUREMENT AND DEFINITION – Maybe you can feel it and sense it. But are the changes and strength really there? Routine gives us the needed parameters to achieve and define progress and growth with measurable results. There is no vagueness only clarity. Your physical fitness can be measured in health and muscular definition. Similarly you can taste and see God’s blessings and guidance.
EVALUATION AND VISIONING – Finally, no routine is ever complete and simply begun again without the important processes of reflection and anticipation. God gives us others because this isn’t meant to be a solitary experience. It is usually not without some pain but it is most certainly intended to be brimming with hope. Routines are documented, sometimes poorly, hopefully well and with detail. Take time to review the experiences, conversations, notes, emails, prayers and journals — everything in your routine that now becomes a new layer to your life. This is your new skin, fresh cells created so you can Be Life in new ways like you’ve never been able to before.
During the Faith & Fitness Magazine 10-year anniversary celebration (all year long in 2014), we highlight many of our popular stories from years past that have proven to help define the faith and fitness culture. They were born out of a routine built on these defining qualities and they’ve proven to help you, our readers, grow physically and spiritually. Get ready because we’re about to shed our old skin. The new look not only looks good, it gives us and you new ways and fresh vision to not just live life well but truly Be Life — the much need vibrant life of Christ to others. There will be more about that in our next issue.
For now it is time to give your physical workout routine a real workout with a heavy emphasis on understanding the real dynamics and value of routine. Then (as the Bible instructs) work out your own faith with fear and trembling. Don’t get stuck in the routine of living. Discover the powerful and passionate life of ROUTINE!
