Posts Tagged: spontaneity
“Of Self-Control and Spontaneity”
My affirmation for the week is as follows:
“Today, by God’s grace and through God’s empowerment, I am welcoming the gift of self-control. I am consistently using that gift for my own well-being, the well-being of others, and for the glory of God.”
My sponsor responded with a thought-provoking, one line reply: “Self control can be spontaneous or a good game plan.”
My reply to my sponsor was as follows:
“That is a good thought, and provokes other good thoughts in my own noggin.
I think that, if self-control is my game plan, and if I work that game plan, then I am positioning myself to be spontaneous.
My wife is an excellent example of that to me. She is one of the most organized, proactive people I’ve ever known. She is also one of the most spontaneous and free-spirited people I’ve ever known.
I used to think that was a strange combination. Now, it makes perfect sense to me.”
I once knew a lady who trained girls—and some courageous boys—in the art of etiquette and the social graces. I had never been that interested in etiquette. I thought it was for sissies and the “refined.” I didn’t want to be a sissy, and I flat-out wasn’t refined.
I once confessed to the lady who trained these young people that I had never really seen the point of training in etiquette. Now that I look back on it, I realize that I was being very insensitive at that point. (If someone said to me, “I don’t see the point of biblical scholarship,” those would be fightin’ words.)
She was very gracious in her response, and did not answer a fool according to his folly.
“If you are at a formal dinner, and you don’t have to think about which fork to use for your salad, that frees you up to relax and have a good conversation with your companions.”
Self-control is indeed a good game plan for getting things done. It is also a good virtue to cultivate if I want to practice the fine art of spontaneity!
“Orderly Spontaneity”
Do you feel as if your life is out of control, chaotic, or at least disorganized? Welcome to my world!
Or, on the other hand, do you feel as if your life lacks spontaneity? Again, welcome to my world!
Perhaps you are like me, and you struggle with both order and spontaneity. Take heart! You might be able to make progress in both directions at the same time.
Here is my 12-step affirmation for today:
“Today, by God’s grace and with His strong help, I am choosing to act in a more orderly way. This frees me up to be more spontaneous, since I am not always immersed in chaos.”
I do not think that order and spontaneity are sworn enemies. In fact, I suspect that they are close friends and traveling companions.
Of course, order can degenerate into rigidity and compulsive behavior. Spontaneity can become chaos. An unbalanced virtue is just a vice in disguise.
On the other hand, it doesn’t have to be so. My wife is one of the most organized (and organizing) people I’ve ever known. After forty-five years of marriage, it occurs to me that this is one of the many things that attracted me to her in the first place. It is still one of the many things that attracts me to her.
But my wife is also one of the most spontaneous, playful people I’ve ever known. And that also was and is attractive. Last night, she got me to play a card game called “Slamwich.” We found the game on a shelf in our rental apartment. She read through the directions, and we played it. It was more fun than I thought it would be. (I won! This of course helped make it more fun.)
Did you catch the order in the previous paragraph? She read the rules and then we played. Order (rules) and spontaneity (play).
I, on the other hand, am sometimes neither orderly nor spontaneous. However, I am doing better these days. And I have noticed that when I am doing better on either order or spontaneity, I tend to do better on both.
There is a wonderful old Christian hymn, based on a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier, which contains this exquisite prayer:
“Drop Thy still dews of quietness
till all our strivings cease;
take from our lives the strain and stress
and let our ordered lives confess
the beauty of Thy peace.”
I believe that God is not simply orderly. I believe that God is the Orderer. And our lives most definitely should confess the beauty of his peace.
However, I also believe that God is wonderfully spontaneous. He is always doing new things (Isaiah 43:19). Perhaps more orderliness would help us all to confess not only the beauty of God’s peace, but also God’s playful spontaneity.
Proverbs 8 tells us that wisdom is God’s oldest creation, there before anything else was there (vss. 22-29). But Proverbs 8 also tells us that the wisdom that God created was “always at God’s side, filled with delight day after day, rejoicing (literally, “playing”) in his presence” (v. 30, my translation). If wisdom was the first thing God created, and if it is continually playful, it is no great interpretive leap to say that the Creator himself is playful.
Wisdom’s play, according to Proverbs 8:31, is also directed to humankind. Wisdom was not only playing in God’s presence. Wisdom was also “rejoicing” (“playing”) in his inhabited world and delighting in humankind” (my translation). The same Hebrew word for “rejoicing” or “playing” is used for what wisdom does in relation to God and in relation to humanity.
So, my prayer for myself and you is this: May you and I have an orderly and spontaneous day, week, and life!
Amen!
“THE ROUTINES THAT FREE US”
“Most of life is routine – dull and grubby, but routine is the momentum that keeps a man going. If you wait for inspiration you’ll be standing on the corner after the parade is a mile down the street.” (Ben Nicholas.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/routine.html.)
“Routines are normal, natural, healthy things. Most of us take a shower and brush our teeth every day. That is a good routine. Spiritual disciplines are routines. That is a good thing. But once routines become routine you need to change your routine.” (Mark Batterson. Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/routine.html.)
I have always craved routine. I’ve also always resisted routine. Why the craving? Why the resisting?
I crave them because I’ve always suspected that the opposite is not spontaneity, but chaos. I still suspect that this is true. I think that Ben Nicholas (in the first quote above) expressed very nicely one of the reasons for routine: It keeps us going. It provides momentum.
Too often, I sit around waiting for momentum and inspiration to hit me. They won’t. Momentum is sustained by action, and inspiration often comes to me (when it shows up at all) in the midst of my routines. And when inspiration and momentum get married, they often produce some really nice children.
Why do I resist routine? Probably, I resist them for several (non)reasons. Laziness comes to mind immediately. Then too, there is the fear that the quote above (from Mark Batterson) encapsulates: I am afraid of my routines becoming routine.
And, of course, that is indeed a possibility. However, a possibility is not the same thing as an inevitability. Routines can be put to one side for a little while. They can be supplemented. I can substitute one good routine for another good routine. Routines don’t have to become routine.
Some of the most creative, spontaneous, fun people I have known have also been people who greatly valued their routine. They had a routine, but the routine did not have them.
I want to conclude these musings with someone else’s musings. The following is from the site http://www.sixfiguresunder.com/powerful-routines/, and nicely sums up both the dangers and opportunities of routines.
“ ‘You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.’ – John C. Maxwell
We all have habits, for better or for worse. I’ve noticed that some of my routines not only make my day smoother and more productive, but also save me time and money. Other routines or habits do just the opposite. Building up and improving the productive routines and rooting out the wasteful routines will improve the flow of life and cash.”
Note well! Improving good routines and grubbing out bad ones doesn’t simply improve cash flow. Such activities improve the flow of life. I can’t add much to that!
TIME TO PLAY, PAPAW!
Yesterday, I had a lot to do. Quite a few things didn’t get done—on purpose!
My wife is taking care of her mom, who has a lot of health problems. So, each week, my wife is gone for several days.
Her mom lives about an hour away from us, so I don’t get up there very often. Too busy.
However, sometimes I decide that my TO DO list shouldn’t be in all caps.
This week, my wife and I were talking on the phone about the middle of her time away at her mom’s. She mentioned that my mother-in-law would love to see me. (I think my wife meant that she would also be glad to see me, but I figured that I had better just assume this.) I told my wife that, no, I was too busy.
As soon as I hung up, I felt that gentle nudge that I often suspect is God. “You’re not too busy. You need to go up there,” said the Nudge.
I don’t think I would have gone (despite the Nudge), if it had not been for a story a friend of mine told me the other day. He was playing a game with his granddaughter that she had invented. She is a toddler, and toddlers invent some of the most wonderful games. This one involved her running over to a door, touching it, and running back to her grandpa, who would then scoop her up. It involved a lot of giggling on the part of the participants. It sounded as if this game for two involved two winners.
Later in the day, after they had been playing, the adults (including grandpa) were having a nice adult holiday meal. The door-touching giggle box did not seem to recognize this “adults-only” aspect. She came to her grandpa, grabbed his finger, and tried to pull him off his seat at the table. It was time to play. It didn’t take him very long to get the message!
So, because of God’s nudging and my friend’s story, I got in the car and drove to the home of mother-in-law, visited for a couple of hours, and headed back home.
Some things on my list didn’t get done yesterday, but it was a good day!
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
- DTEB, “Getting Christ and Ourselves Back in Focus” November 11, 2024“Col. 3:1 ¶ If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Col. 3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Col. 3:3 For you have died, and your life is hidden […]
- “Search Me!” October 27, 2024“Psa. 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24, English Standard Version) I am participating in a Bible study, and this is a prayer […]
- “Christian Speech” October 26, 2024“Eph. 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Foulkes, in his excellent commentary on the Book of Ephesians, writes the following, which I quote at some length: “29. Now the […]
- “God is in the Details” October 11, 2024“The devil is in the details.” (A general saying, often quoted by lawyers, reporters, and negotiators.) “God is in the details.” (Me, almost certainly not original.) “Luke 12:7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Jesus) God does not micromanage, but God […]
- “Grandma’s Pump” October 8, 2024When I was a little critter, I would stay at my grandma’s house for a night or two sometimes. I liked this for a lot for many reasons. One thing I liked about staying with her was that Grandma’s house was much more technologically advanced than ours was. For one thing, she had indoor water—sort […]
- “Wearing the #14 Wrong-Side-Out” October 5, 2024Pete Rose, #14, is dead. Many of the old guys with whom I play softball watched him play and appreciated him greatly. I do as well. He was one of the greatest players who ever played the game. Yes, he admitted (eventually) to betting on baseball. But many of us still regard him as one […]
- “Passing Along the Love (and a Link)” October 4, 2024Several years ago, a friend of mine put me onto a daily meditation by Richard Rohr and friends. I don’t read them all the time, but I probably should. They are good! I thought that today’s writing was especially good, and I also figured that this would be a good way to post something. I […]
- “Witnessing Versus Being Witnesses” September 19, 2024“Acts 1:1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, Acts 1:2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. Acts 1:3 He presented himself alive to them after […]
- “A Bathroom Prayer for Hurting Hands” September 11, 2024A week ago Sunday, my hands were hurting so badly at church that I went to the bathroom to run hot water over my hands. Arthritis perhaps, or carpal tunnel, or general orneriness—I don’t know why my hands hurt, but they do. They have for years. So, while I was running hot water over my […]
- “Waiting and Seeking” September 10, 2024“Lam. 3:19 ¶ Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! Lam. 3:20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. Lam. 3:21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: Lam. 3:22 ¶ The steadfast love of the LORD […]
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