Yesterday in church, as I was listening to a sermon about the armor of God, I wrote down these questions: “Am I recharging my spiritual battery – the strength in my inner person – daily? I do this diligently for my phone and my computer, but I do it for myself?”

There have been times in my life when I could have answered “yes,” but recently I have slacked off on intentionally recharging my inner person. Instead, the first thing I do when I get up in the morning, when I start to drag during the day, and when I want to wind down at night is look at something on my phone or computer. It’s not always social media, but often it is. I realized that I had fallen into a pattern of using this kind of distraction as a form of recharging. And I’ve been wondering why I’ve felt a little drained :)

The truth is that scroll social media often does opposite of recharging my battery. Someone’s post makes me mad, sad, (and dangerous to know – sorry, that’s a reference to an 80’s album) disappointed, disgusted, or leaves me feeling woefully inadequate in some area of my life. I even played a game one day: how long does it take scrolling social media for something to make me feel worse than when I started? I do want to reiterate that I love Facebook and Instagram, the two social media platforms that I use (I’m using one now). In the end, I get more good than bad out of them, more joy and laughter than pain and sorrow, more connection than disconnection, and that’s why I still use them regularly. I have just been convicted of how I’m using them – what the time spent on them, and the habit of using them, has replaced. I don’t wake up and engage in a spiritual practice to start my day on a regular basis. That’s not my habit. It used to be, and it needs to be again.

As I was thinking about how to change my habit and what my routine should be, the image of a phone battery charge status came to mind. I wondered if I could link those four block to four aspects of my daily spiritual practice – to my daily “recharging”? As I do with my phone, I could check to see if all four blocks were solid. If they weren’t, then I need to find a way to get to a “charger” sooner than later.

These kinds of visual aids and object lessons help me. They give me something tangible that I can check to see if I’ve done. They also give me something doable.

Here’s where I landed on this little exercise.

Block 1: Read scripture

None of this has to be a huge ordeal. In fact, if it is, it’s accomplishing more than recharging. That’s okay, but what I'm talking about here is a workable daily routine for recharging. Today, I decided to work through the book of Ephesians. At first, I thought I’d read all six chapters in one sitting, maybe even in two versions. The Lord stopped me and reminded me that this is far more than is required. It’s also a good way to burn out early and never form a good habit. So, today, I will read Ephesians 1. Tomorrow I might read Ephesians 1 in another translation, Ephesians 2, or I might read the exact same passage again. I might read the same passage for a week or even a month. The point is not how much different scripture you can read. The point is to have scripture be the basis of your daily empowerment and direction-setting. If you have Psalm 23 memorized, you could probably use that, and only that, for the rest of your life.

Block 2: Meditate

“Meditate” can mean different things in different contexts. Here, I mean to sink deeper into a truth, to interact with it, to let it affect you. I often change the word "meditate" to “marinate” because it gives me a better idea of what I’m doing. If I’m meditating on Ephesians 1, I’m marinating myself in its truth. This can happen by simply taking some time to reflect not just on what the passage says, but what the passage says to me, today. I often journal because it helps me keep my train of thought. I tend to land on one truth from the passage, one question it causes me to ask about myself, and delve into that. Another way to meditate is to read a daily devotional. That’s what most of them are – short meditations on a passage of scripture. It doesn’t have to be on the same passage you read for Block 1.

Block 3: Pray

For prayer, I don’t start with a list of requests for other people or even for myself. There is a time for this kind of prayer, but this is not the heart of recharging prayer. Instead, I’ll pray about what God revealed in my scripture reading and meditation and let that take the prayer where it takes it. I will try to focus on one truth God has brought to light and ask God to help me work that out in my day and in my life. I will ask God to help me make the changes I need to make to be aligned with it, to nudge me when I forget completely and fall back into old habits, and empower me to find joy in His way of being. Mostly importantly, I will listen. This is not really a time for me to talk. It’s a time for me to ask God to speak to me because it’s God’s Word, spoken to me, that recharges me, changes me, and empowers me – not a litany of thoughts and requests I make to Him.

Block 4: Worship

Finally, I will probably listen to a worship song. If I’m short on time, this is a great thing to do in the car or even when getting dressed. If I have time, I might sit down at the piano and play a song. Or I might even sit on the porch and soak in the beauty of creation, listen to the birds for a minute, and overflow with the joy, gratitude, and peace that God’s beauty elicits – this is worship. In fact, all four blocks could be done during a morning walk – either with scripture you’ve memorized or something you can listen to on your phone. I am TERRIBLE at keeping up any sort of routine and pretty darn good at planning them. So, for the next month, I’m going to commit to charging my battery every day, every morning if I can. When I do, I’m going to post a “battery status.” If I only have time to read some scripture, then there will only be one block on my battery, but at least there will be something! Maybe later in the day I can find some time to finish the recharging. I’m not shooting for perfection. I’m just trying to do something for each block every day, even if I know in an ideal world I could do more, go deeper, etc. The point is to make these four things, no matter how brief, the non-negotiables of my daily life, my morning routine if possible.

In Psalm 5:3, David writes:

In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.

I like the way Eugene Peterson translates it in The Message:

Every morning you’ll hear me at it again. Every morning I lay out the pieces of my life on your altar and watch for fire to descend. My goal is that every morning God will hear me at it again.


Will you join me?

I need accountability, and I thought that might be a great way to use social media. To that end, I’m going to post my battery status each day. If you would like, post a picture of your battery, if you’ve found time to recharge each day, in the comments.

Thoughts on Being a "Good Mom"

RESTED

INVESTED

TESTED

BESTED

BLESTED

These five words came to me on Tuesday morning, the first day A went back to school and K to Mother's Morning Out. There were literally four days - four weeks probably - worth of things I needed to do in my "free" time between dropping K off and picking her up. This was my chance to go do all those things that make me a "good mom": clean the basement of my mother's house (where we're living while we do some renovations), clean the kids' room upstairs, do the laundry, go to the grocery store, plan for a healthy dinner everyone would be happy to eat, have a great snack waiting for A when he got off the bus, pick up a pedestal sink from Southern Surplus, go to Home Depot to get the grout Lowe's didn't have, clean out the attic, clean out the garage, put together some storage shelves, finally make a decision on paint colors, make sure all the accounting for the project is where it needs to be, clean out my car, get the oil changed, exercise, wash AND dry my hair, put on something decent, clean off those plastic cars in the yard I need to take to the Consignment Sale, and on and on ...

But all I wanted to do was go to sleep. To take a nap at 9:30 in the morning and wake up at 12:30, just in time to go get K. And I felt awful about that, like a "bad mom" and a "bad wife". Everyone else was up and at school, or work, or wherever - not sleeping. What was wrong with me?


That's when the Five Words came to me. Well, the first two came first: rested and invested.

What God said to me in my mother-guilted moment was "The very best thing you can do for your children is to be rested so that you can be invested in them. Nothing else matters. That's what makes you a good mom. You provide a home and environment that is restful - a sanctuary - for them and Chris. When they come home, they rest. You don't. This IS your time to rest so that you can be ready to be invested in them when they come home. The most important thing that gives them peace and rest is for you to be fully rested - not exhausted - so you can be present with them. A clean house with folded laundry and a grumpy, worn out mom misses the point."

That made a lot of sense to me. I've always had this nagging question about when exactly it is that I get off work? When do I stop tending to someone in one way or another? It seems like it is only when I'm asleep. And that's exhausting.

I've had a sneaking suspicion that motherhood is shift work where the same person works all the shifts. This is not a slight to Chris. He does a lot to help with the children. But as soon as he helps with them, I felt like I need to go tend to the rest of my list. And honestly, once they're in bed, I feel like it's my time to tend to him, not to ignore him and rest. It's the only alone time I have with him.

RESTED

INVESTED

So, I took at nap. I tried to, but of course my head was spinning, and God reminded me that rest and sleep are not the same thing. So I read a book - for pleasure - until I got tired enough to fall asleep. And I slept until 12:30, just in time to go get K.

I still felt a little guilty, but I think I understood for the first time how important MY rest is to my being able to be meaningfully invested, in anything. I could see how rest has to come first, for if it doesn't everything else - no matter how important - is compromised. As a stay-at-home mom of two young children, my rest may have to come when other people are usually working. And that is okay. That is not lazy. That's taking care of my family.
I can't help but think of the weekly Sabbath prescription, the seventh-year fallow fields and forgiveness of debts, and the 50th year jubilee. It's all right there. Not only a weekly day of rest. But entire years of rest on regular cycles. This has been a part of human design since we were designed.

And even God rested. GOD rested. GOD. RESTED.

Yet, we've evolved into a culture that values everything but rest. Where have we gotten this idea that we don't fundamentally need rest - not only sleep - like we need food and water and social interaction?

We look down on the Spanish for their siestas. What turn our noses up at the French for actually taking several weeks off for summer holiday. The Scandinavians for year-long maternity leave. And don't get us started on paternity leave.
We are offended by their wasteful rest.

RESTED

INVESTED

Then the next two words came
TESTED

BESTED

It is not only for the purpose of being invested that we must rest. Life guarantees challenges and hardships. There is no way out of that for anyone, regardless of good behavior or spiritual discipline. And when those times come, when we are tested, we will lose if we are not rested. We will be bested. We will get sick. Our bodies will not be able to defend themselves. Our relationships will be compromised. And eventually, our character and our moral compass won't have the fuel to remain true.

So rest is also a weapon, probably the best general one we have for the trials life will bring our way - physically, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually.

Then BLESTED. I think God has a sense of humor and couldn't resist the rhyme. BLESTED. What a great word. Rest is the root of blessing. From our rest - ultimately in Him, we not only bless but are blessed.

The little in-between words are variable. But here's where I ended up.

You must be

RESTED

to be

INVESTED

and when you're

TESTED

you won't be

BESTED

but your life, and those around you, will be

BLESTED

May God bless each of you today with guilt-free rest, whatever time of day it may come.