Patterns of Movement

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” (Lamentations 3:22-24 ESV). One of the necessities for successful hunting is to learn the patterns movement of the game you are pursuing. Since it is winter and my attention is turned to the past hunting season. Perhaps I can make next season even better than this past one! This in turn caused me to think about the patterns of life we have adopted also. We all have them. They are our habits. Some of them are good. Others are not. When my children were younger, I enjoyed taking them to school. It provided me another opportunity to help them have a good start to their day. I remember when David was little; one dad brought his daughter late nearly every day. At best, they barely beat the tardy bell. Each morning they went through the same routine. Dad got out quickly. He hurried toward the front door, leaving his young daughter to get her lunch box and books by herself. Taking big, fast, long adult strides, he gruffly barked at her to hurry up. “You don’t want to be late,” he always scolded her. She hurried to catch up. He opened the school door for her and they disappeared. It was their daily pattern. . We’ve seen it a million times with different specifics. People tend to fall into a pattern of daily activity. Most of the time these habits are harmless, however, at other times they are not. I’m sure the dad thought he was doing something special for his little girl by walking her to class. I’m sure he loved her very much and wanted her to have a great day. I’m sure he wanted her to be confident and excited about her schoolwork. I’m sure he didn't know how hurtful his treatment of her was. But he was in a rut, a habit that’s so ingrained he didn’t think about its consequences. We live so much of our lives on autopilot! We often sit in the same place, eat at the same restaurant, visit with the same people, drive the same way to work, watch the same TV shows, get up at the same time, and even wear the same clothes. Most of this is not bad. Putting unimportant things on autopilot allows us to devote our energy and attention to new things, important projects, and needed creativity. But we must turn off autopilot in our precious relationships. We get in predictable routines, bad habits, and destructive patterns in our relationships with our spouse, children, parents, and friends. Our loved ones feel taken for granted. Underneath the surface we catch ourselves not listening as we should, or expecting them to understand us being “just a little late” again, or surfing the net, or watching TV, pretending to pay attention to them, or using them as the butt of another of our jokes “to liven up a dull party.” We’ve fallen into a bad rut that runs over the ones we most love. We can break those patterns. First, notice what you do with your loved ones in your daily routines. Check out the patterns and habits and see if you can catch some things you'd like to change. Second, try to do something new, something fresh, for each of the people you love each month. It won’t be extravagant, just out of the routine. Third, really listen to them. Listen for the mood they’re in, find out about their day, say things they need to hear, and don’t try to tell them what to do so much as let them know you care what happened. Change your pattern of movement. You will like the difference it makes! Follow God’s example of unfailing love.