But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.
~James 1:22-24
In 2007 me, Shanna, and another couple traveled to Cancun, Mexico to celebrate our fifteenth Anniversary. I promised Shanna that we’d go dancing one night in Mexico. I’m not a dancer, but I love Shanna and took her dancing. Glowing purple in my white shirt amid the black lighting I did my white man shuffle to “Play that Funky Music White Boy” when the music suddenly stopped and the DJ started calling men to the stage for a dance competition. Next thing I knew I was up there with a bunch of middle-aged guys like myself. Without going into the details, I won the dance contest. It may have been the “Sprinkler” or “Throw-the-Q-Tip-Away” that put me over the top!
Theologian Johnny Cash once sung, “Get rhythm when you get the blues.”
The secret to a magnum life is getting into healthy rhythms or practices without veering away from them. Some call them core values, life principles, or even big rocks, and they are four to seven life rhythms we establish to live as the best version of ourselves. We don’t throw these in our mental junk drawer and forget about them. We commit to live by these things before all others.
A value is as a value does, which is why I prefer to call them practices. It’s easy to say we value something but if it’s not a regular, meaningful part of our routine we’re only giving lip service to it.
Faith is not one of these core practices. Faith should permeate into every aspect of my life. I practice my faith daily through prayer, Bible Study, fellowship and service but my faith is the reason for my core practices and not simply numbered among them. Among my core practices are: sleep and rest (1/3 of my life), work and career (1/3 of my adult life), physical health, Shanna, family, relationships, and things I do for fun. These are practices that I fight to establish and maintain rhythm.
I battle on behalf of these rhythms constantly. My phone reveals what I value the most and I hope it would testify on my behalf that I practice what I preach. But maybe not!
What are yours?
