The Need for Normalcy

On my drive to work this morning, I heard an interesting radio advertisement for the product “5-Hour Energy.” In the ad, they imagined a world where, similar to a battery indicator on a phone or computer, humans had a built-in indicator to reveal our remaining energy. The commercial then suggested that most of our indicators would probably be showing ‘low energy’—in desperate need of a recharge.

Now, I think I found this commercial especially interesting because, at present, I’m really tired—and so is my whole family. This past week was incredibly exhausting as we moved homes and I officiated a wedding, in addition to the normal busyness of work, school, soccer games, violin rehearsals, and Sunday worship. But, while this has been a week of insanity, the craziness really goes back over a month, when we first started the home-buying process. Our house has been in disarray for weeks, with moving boxes everywhere. The kids have watched more iPad than we wish they had, as Mandy and I sorted through the logistics of moving. And now they have the disorientation of the only home they’ve ever known no longer being ‘home.’

It’s been an unsettling time. And our energy indicator is most-certainly low. We need to be recharged.

But, unlike the 5-Hour Energy commercial suggested, I know better than to think the solution to our energy-deficient life is a 2-ounce shot of caffeine-laden who-knows-what. I’m in search of long-term solutions, an energy that will sustain us over the long-haul and not have us coming back for the next sugary fix when the vitality wanes.

What we really need is more regularity and rhythm in our lives again. We must get back to our routine. Our family functions best when we sit down on Sunday nights and map out our week. Our family is most-healthy (physically, emotionally, and spiritually) when we’re sitting down to regular, home-cooked, family meals. Our family is at our best when we find balance between activity and rest, going and staying, doing and being.

And of course that’s true—because that’s the way the universe is hard-wired. From the very beginning, God ordered creation to work and then rest, create and then recreate, produce and then play. This is the way God arranged the whole system. We aren’t meant to hustle our way through life, with no time to rest and take respite. It’s not healthy.

The secret to an abundant, thriving life is tapping into God’s balanced, rhythmic pattern for the universe.

And my family hasn’t been thriving much lately—we’ve just been surviving. So, I’m very excited to finally be in our new house and be able to get back to the balanced, rhythmic life we so desperately need and love. I’m looking forward to family meals around the dinner table and casual walks around the block. I’m excited to sip soda in the backyard as songbirds serenade us. I’m excited to sit with my bride on the front porch as our girls ride bikes on our new block.

And as my family reclaims God’s sacred rhythm of life for our own, I invite you all to do the same. Life’s too busy and short to not take time to rest, recharge, reflect, and rejoice in the goodness of God all around us.