God in My Everything: How an Ancient Rhythm Helps Busy People Enjoy God

Benedict’s perspective can be summarized in the famous dictum, “To pray is to work; to work is to pray.”

We don’t read the Bible, pray, or perform some “spiritual task” so we can check them off our to-do lists. The practices, rather, create space for us to enjoy company with Jesus. They enable us to receive the life of God and are thus aptly called “a means of grace.”

Creating a rule in response to the movement of the Spirit may also involve simplifying certain practices so that our relationship with Jesus is served.

We learn that because God doesn’t sleep, we can. Understanding that God provides for us in our sleep, we are freed to live with less anxiety.8

We may also find that a practice once helpful in the past no longer seems fruitful. We might consider dropping the practice or trying something more challenging.

In response, it’s helpful to remember that if these practices make our lives feel heavier or become just one more thing to do, in all likelihood we have established a self-constructed rule rather than a Spirit-created one. Jesus, after all, tells us that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. He teaches us that under his “yoke” — that is, by fol

The rule of keeping a Sabbath frees me to spend time with family and not feel guilty that I am not working. On the flipside, I am committed to working when it is time to work without feeling guilty that I am not with my family. In a very practical way, this rule sets life-giving limits for me. A “monastic bell” enables us to establish our limits wi

Ironically, attempting too many spiritual practices at once can actually keep our relationship with Jesus on the surface because we are not able to experience him deeply in any of those activities. It’s like speed dating. You can’t have a significant conversation with any one person even though, or rather because, you’re doing a lot of “dating.”

says author Alan Deutschmann in his book Change or Die, it is impossible for us to experience lasting change unless we are in some kind of relationship.

Sabbath, as the foundation of a rule of life, gives you permission to stop from your busyness and simply be.