A rhythm of life for the new year

We're going to need something to ground us.

Photo of a person standing barefoot on way sand is by Clint McKoy on Unsplash.

Scrolling through social media has become a different experience across time. At first we all posted whatever was on our minds because we had yet to grasp fully that everything we put on the internet lives there in perpetuity. Then we began curating our online presence to show our best selves to the world, partly because we were overcorrecting for our initial carelessness and partly because we want others to think well of us. Over the past few years, though, my feeds have become increasingly dotted with a realness that is neither careless nor overly curated. Many of us are struggling, and we want to connect with others on a human level both to invite mutual care and to communicate that people are not alone if they’re also having a hard time.

In thinking about difficult things we go through - which for our household included a major car accident and a whole lot of illness just in the past month - and the angst that I and so many others are feeling about the year ahead, I wanted some kind of way of moving through the world that keeps me grounded and present. What popped immediately to mind was Jesus’ response to a question about what it takes to gain eternal life: “[Jesus] answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself’” (Luke 10:27, NRSVUE). In this preamble to the Parable of the Good Samaritan, there is much to be mined for how we live day to day.

What if we let Jesus’ response create a daily rhythm for our lives, each day purposefully attending to our heart, soul, strength, and mind and showing love to a neighbor? Here are just a few examples for each category:

Heart - tend to our connections

• Contact a loved one by call, text, or video

• Spend time going through old notes or photos, giving thanks for the people, feelings, and experiences captured therein

• Plan a time to get together with dear ones, and protect that time fiercely

Soul - cultivate our devotion to God

• Spend a few minutes outside, drinking in the created world

• Engage in a spiritual discipline of choice (e.g., breath prayer, examen, scripture reading)

• Celebrate three small, specific gratitudes each day

Mind - sharpen our mental faculties

• Read something engaging

• Work a puzzle

• Pursue a new interest

Strength - be good to our body

• Take a walk

• Take a nap

• Make or buy a meal that tastes good and provides needed calories and nutrients

Neighbor - love those beyond our immediate circle

• Pray for someone you know is hurting or for someone you find difficult to get along with

• Write a note thanking someone for what they specifically bring to the world

• Listen deeply to the need of another and respond accordingly

Imagine what could be different in us if we focused on each of these areas daily (or even weekly) for as few as five minutes. We would be honoring the God who gave us heart, mind, strength, soul, and neighbor. We would be doing our part to bring the kin-dom of God ever closer. And we would be going through life more clear-eyed and open-hearted, ready to take on whatever this year throws at us.

I invite you, then, to make your own list of ways to attend to these areas, keep it handy, and then weave the practices through your days. I’ll be doing so right alongside you.