Watching for the Watchword: Simple Rhythms

“We must know before we can love. In order to know God, we must often think of Him; and when we come to love Him, we shall then also think of Him often, for our heart will be with our treasure.” ― Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God

I have to admit: I am a creature of habit. Maybe you feel that way too. It's one thing when life seems to have reasonable margin and the routine feels relatively simple, but when your margin feels depleted, it can feel like you're just trying to keep your head above water. So, in between children, work, juggling the family car between different schedules, etc., etc., I often feel the Lord calling me to the center: Him. So, what does it look like to be a family who has a rhythm of passionate spirituality with the Lord? Not in a shiny, pious, kind of way, but in a real, baby-spit-up-on-the-shirt, dishes-in-the-sink, and the-lawn-needs-mowing kind of way.

I've been thinking about that a lot lately, and I'm learning that to move from theory to reality takes basic, practical, and sustainable ways of walking out our walk with the Lord. As parents we're instilling little things that we can do as a family. Using the rhythms of the Moravian Texts (the Moravians at Hurnnhut is cool historical expression of community - check it out!), we are starting to make the Watchword of the Week a part of our daily routine. This acts as a memorization tool, and as a family we can even memorize the watchword scripture verse by the end of a (good) week :). It also gives us teachable moments with our children, like: what does "majestic" mean? Or, what does "Sovereign" mean? As parents it gives us a chance to talk about our faith in basic ways. ..."Majesty" is a pretty easy one for a 3-year-old who's into princesses. Still working on "sovereign" though - that one's a little more complex :).

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