Include God in your everyday routines – his grace will feel fresh every morning. That way you will truly live.
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Have you ever brushed your teeth and thought “didn’t I just do this?”
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada, and I just said that last evening to my friend who helps me get ready for bed. She was brushing my teeth, and I thought, “Man, didn’t I just do this? Like this morning?” You know how it is. Regular routines can feel so daily. So repetitive. The minute you open your eyes in the morning, you can feel yourself shifting into routine. Turn off the alarm. Fling back covers. Put feet in slippers. Turn on shower. Squeeze toothpaste onto brush. Like I said: it’s all so daily. And I get it. I wake up every morning to the exact same series of routines. A friend comes into the bedroom, turns on the tap, heads for the kitchen, pours coffee, comes back, begins to put my legs through range-of-motion exercises. After that it’s a bath, get dressed, get lifted into my wheelchair. Oh, me with quadriplegia; it’s been 57 years of virtually that exact same regimen.
I remember decades ago when I was first injured, I would groan about the disability-stuff that I had to go through every morning, noon, and night, day in and day out. Then I met another wheelchair user – her name was Shirley Locker – and she reminded me that our daily disability challenges have rewards. Rich rewards for people like us who must consciously trust God for hour-by-hour [sometimes minute-by-minute] strength. God promises in Deuteronomy 33:25, “Your strength will equal your days.” And if that strength is coming from God? It will more than equal your needs, she said. The deep rut of our daily routines opens the door to deep satisfaction in the Lord Jesus. In fact, God invites us to know his satisfaction on a more profound level as our many weaknesses force us to go to him for grace, especially during so-called boring hours when we feel that our life is on automatic. He knows that that is when we need him the most.
And so, my groanings began to make room for God. My weakness began making room for him to display his own invincible strength in my life. And Deuteronomy 33 is true for you. A self-sufficient person will never experience the strength that God has for him. But Christians who see themselves as needy; we have an open door to deeper satisfaction in Christ. With my afflictions, I have a thousand causes to confess my own weakness every day. And, yes, I must even ask God for strength when other people brush my teeth. Life with a disability furnishes me with enough needs in a day that I am always hearing Jesus say, “you’re right, Joni, without me, you can’t do nothing.”
So, no matter how many “same old routines” are in your day, see each routine as making room for God’s invincible grace-filled strength. And listen to this: His grace will make the routine feel different because his grace is fresh every morning. Lamentations 3 says his abundant mercies, his outpouring of grace is new every morning. Now that’s what I call relief for a day filled of ordinary routines. So, what parts of your day are routine? Putting away dishes, driving to the office, filing papers, memorizing formulas? Why not infuse each routine with life by inviting God to be a part of it? Because as your days, so your strength will be [if you recognize your need of Jesus]. That’s something to remember when you brush your teeth tomorrow. And I’ll be remembering it, too.
© Joni and Friends