Halftime

This is about the midway point. For Lent. 3 Sundays in, 3 Sundays to go before we’re into Holy Week and Easter Sunday.  
 
This is as good a time as any for the halftime pep-talk. 
 
I’m sure this won’t surprise anybody. I was one of those kids who always had to have something going on. The older I am, I better I get about it.
 
Once I when I was working on my Masters, I was complaining to one of my mentors about the sun not coming up early enough for me to sit outside and study. He says, “Well, what’s wrong with just sitting?” And I’m all like, “these books don’t read themselves.” But, just sitting is hard—even though I’m better about it. 
 
Like, the Richard Foster Celebration of Discipline really informs how I “just sit.” Because I see that time “just sitting” as time with God. Like focused. And very real. Very present.
 
Sometimes it’s meditation. Sometimes it’s prayer. “Just sitting” is a way of submission for me. I’m really trying. I’m really trying to work all this in.
 
But Holy Week is coming. It feels like it’s coming hard and fast: Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday. Pow! It’s coming fast.
 
So how are you doing?
 
It’s halftime.
 
How’s it going for you?
 
I hope and pray that you’re living into your plan, whatever that looks like. I hope and pray you’re living into your fasting or your own set of disciplines or new things you’re trying. I hope that’s working for you.
 
Don’t worry if it’s not. You can always jump back on track or try a new track—try something new if what you’re doing isn’t happening. Setting up new routines is okay. 
 
This is not “law.” Richard Foster cautions about that, actually: “Nothing puts people into bondage like religion.” So, let that go right away. Don’t hold onto to all this so tightly. 
 
Having said that, I have one routine that never gets old. Never! My quiet time in the mornings. Even if I’m not “just sitting,” I don’t ever get tired of spending time with God. Not ever. 
 
Carve out some time for yourself to do the same. Spend a little time with God. Maybe just sitting. Time with God is good time—always in all ways. It saves me.
 
Oswald Chambers puts it this way: 
“We all have those times when there are no flashes of light and no apparent thrill to life, where we experience nothing but the daily routine with its common everyday tasks. The routine of life is actually God’s way of saving us between our times of great inspiration…” 

​Thanks Ozzy!
 
So here we are, looking at halftime. I don’t know what your routine looks like, but I can only testify to my experience. I can encourage you to develop a spiritual routine of your own. Do it for yourself and I promise it won’t feel routine. Not ever.   
 
Whatever you do, it will save you between your times of great inspiration. It will see you through. It gets you to the second half.
 
Grace & Peace,
Scott