Building Momentum, "In My Life," part 1

Someone recently commented, "Waiting for your post now on building momentum for your life." And I immediately thought of a book written by one our region's leading pastors with that exact intent, "Momentum for Life" by Michael Slaughter. In it, he shares his "five life practices for balance and self-leadership" which "together form the acronym D-R-I-V-E:

1. Devotion to God
2. Readiness for Life-Long Learning
3. Investing in Key Relationships
4. Visioning for the Future.
5. Eating and Exercise for Life.

Following the metaphor of the above as it relates to me, under...

Devotion to God...I stay in the word and prayer with both a deliberate, "setting-down-all-else" time as part of my Daily Rule as well as taking advantage of moments of centering all throughout my day. Studying the Contemplative Prayer movement has been a real soul-saver. Merton and Thomas Keating have both been invaluable on that.

I serve and try to lay down my life daily. I don't "go to work." My work I treat as part of my service in addition to other. I pray I am devoted to God in every breath. And there are a myriad of things I do to stay in tune with that.

I recently signed up for just a simple thing, a daily scripture sent to my email in-box which I can get on my cell phone. Each day it feels like I am getting "a special message from heaven sent just for me." They have actually really hit me personally each time. A quick internet search can sign you up too.

Probably the biggest thing thing I do is to keep my daily faith practices fresh. Instead of doing the same thing week in and week out of every year, I live more as a free-bird according to the season. Others might be wired though different. Right now I am reading through the Bible in a year (or so) and journaling what I am learning in the Book of Judges, in addition to a new book here or there. I've also been deliberate recently in retreating where I can in nature, getting away and getting quiet to gain clarity in what can be the flood of my life.

If someone is actually interested, I'll finish what I've been doing with the R-I-V-E in successive posts. Stay tuned...