(Note: this journey plan is actually the journey to be supernaturally rested in God, and intentional about the things I do/say/eat.)

Welcome to Spring!

I finally finished my Spring 2018 New Season (Policy Doc.) so it’s time to revise this Journey Plan (it was a little rough but I was flying by the seat of my pants).

Welcome to the Evening & Morning Journey. I love it when I can do one thing, or pursue a single set of efforts and have it move me forward on several goals. This journey is that sort of compound project, addressing…

• My desire to be more deliberate about everything I do.
• God’s desire to give me supernatural rest in Him.

I’ve read (soon to reread) the book, “The Power of Full- Engagement,” by Loehr and Schwartz on the powerful way habit can set us up for success. On the flip side, if you watched the movie, “Click,” starring Adam Sandler you realize the way in which most of us use habit. I tend to go on autopilot for periods of time, during which I can make decisions that deepen a rut instead of advancing me toward a goal. As a by-product, life seems to fly by when I want to savor it.

I have many hearts desires that don’t fit the typical flow of the world (I want something other than a 9 to 5 existence, retire a 72 to start enjoying life.) I also have a very full plate of urgent things that crowd out the important things that actually feed my heart. I bet I’m not alone in this situation. God’s answer is to give me His rest so that I can run and not grow weary.

I’ve been pondering this one for a couple months and I’m excited to launch it. So here goes the details.

What it is:

I’m forcibly slowing life down by journaling more. I’m going to track what I eat. I’m going to get up early and do my version of ‘morning pages’ (inspired by the book “The Artists Way” by Julia Cameron). I’m also going to declare my allegiance to the light side of the paradox every morning.

Genesis 1 says, “the evening and the morning,” 7 times. To this day, Jews keep their Saboth from Friday night sundown to Saturday night sundown. I grew up with the concept actually, but that’s not why I’m going to try it out again. So I’ll be starting my day the night before. Each evening, I’m going to front load the next day, so that I’m prepped for success, but I’m also going to listen to a great audiobook from Graham Cooke called the Practice of Rest.

What I’m hoping God will do (heal/counsel/war/walk) with me

As I mentioned, I actually entered this journey a couple months ago and have been doing some elements of it longer than that. I sort of backed into this one, and I’m just now able to formalize it into a journey.

Note: If that seems messy, it’s sorta how it works half the time. Sometimes God tells us what He’s going to do and then we explore it with Him. Other times, God’s does something and then makes you aware so you can unpack it together.

I’ve been rocking my mornings for about a year now. But my attitude and productivity fall off in the afternoon and I go to bed pretty much dead. I’ve been feeling convicted in this new season, to work toward greater intentionality.

I make a lot of decisions on autopilot, and that’s generally okay, however, when it comes to things like eating, it can be sabotaging. 2 Cor 10:5 says to take every thought captive, which I’d frankly I’d always felt condemnation over. They always read it after 1 John 3:15 “if you hate…you have murdered.”

Recently God redeemed the verse for me. Now I’m seeing it more like an internal martial art. Consider Phil 4:8, “whatsoever is good, etc.” think on these things. There is no negativity in God so things like anger, shame, and fear are not of God. Which means I can give them to God and be free of them.

I believe God wants to upgrade my rest in this new season. My purpose in this journey is to crack open some of these automated decisions and increase my intentionality.

The steps I think we’ll take toward it

Intentionally slowing down the number of things I expect of myself in a day. Setting a hard bedtime with a quiet time (no TV) before it. I’ve espoused getting nightly connection time with God and my wife for years, but it doesn’t always happen. I want my mind churning on the right things as I sleep.

I’ve got an audiobook resource on rest by Graham Cook that I want to go through this month.

I want to tie new routines to existing habits like shower, brushing teeth, meal times, etc.

More steps to come.

Any resources I’m leaning on God to help with

God’s got to come through with help on my attitude and finding the root wounds that cause me to allow this level of busyness and overwhelm.

A potential resource I’m going to explore is a type of minimalism, founded on intentional living. This is a developmental part of things, not a work in process. Link to Jonathon Levi’s coverage of Cedric Waldburger.

Specific places I predict challenge (prayer requests)

More to Come

Start Date: May 15th