Friday 12.24.10: Daily Disciplines

Wake Up:
5:30 am

Devotion:
Streams in the Desert
He went out to the field one evening to meditate. (Gen 24:63)

I would be a better Christian if I spent more time alone, and I would accomplish more if I attempted less and spent more time in isolation and quiet waiting on God. The world has become to much a part of me and I am afflicted with the idea that I am not accomplishing anything unless I am always busily running back and forth. As a society, we no longer believe in the importance of a calm retreat where we sit silently in the shade. As a people of God, we have become entirely too practical. We believe in having all our "irons in the fire" and that all time we spend away from the anvil or fire is wasted time. Yet our time is never more profitably spent than when we set aside time for quiet meditation, talking with God, and looking up to heaven. We can never have too many of these open spaces in life... hours set aside when our soul is completely open and accessible to any heavenly thought or influence that God may be pleased to send our way.

Someone once said, "Meditation is the Sunday of the mind." In these hectic days, we should often give our mind a "Sunday," a time in which it will do no work but instead will simply be still, look heavenward, and spread itself before the Lord like Gideon's fleece, allowing itself to be soaked with the moisture of the dew of heaven. We should have intervals of time when we do nothing, think nothing, and plan nothing  but simply lie on the green lap of nature and "rest a while" (Mark 6:31).

Time spent in this way is not lost time. A fisherman does not say he is losing time when he is mending his nets, nor does a hunter feel he has wasted his time by taking a few minutes to sharpen his blade. And people living in cities today would do well to follow the example of Isaac and as often as possible visit the fields of the countryside, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. After having grown weary from the heat and noise of the city, communion with nature is very refreshing and will bring a calming, healing influence. A walk through a field, a stroll by the sea or a hike across a meadow sprinkled with snow will purge you of the impurities of life and will cause your heart to beat with new joy and hope.

The little cares that worried me,
   I lost them yesterday.
Out in the fields with God.

Workout:
WOD: Maintain 

Work Capacity:

• 4 rounds for quality
• 25 Goblet squats
• 10 Unilateral kneeling curl to press (each arm)
• 3 rounds for quality
• 10 Unilateral strict curl (each arm)
• 25 Military pushups