8 May 2024 John 16:12-15
“I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.” John 16:12
About 80% of the things we do day after day are routine. Maybe more.
We get up at about the same time, have the same breakfast, drive the same route to work. At work we do mostly the same things we do every day, with mostly the same people. We eat mostly the same thing for lunch, leave about the same time, take the same route home to the same people we see every day. Very little of what we do is new, different and exciting – maybe only 20%, maybe less.
And yet most people do not say that their lives are boring. Yes, there is very much routine, but most people understand that it is very important that they do the routine things well. Skillful, dutiful, determined performance of the routine things strengthens us for the new things that do come along, and become the new routines – the marriage, the new class, the new child, the promotion. The crisis, the illness, the accident, the setback. There is little more real than our routines.
And nobody cares if you are bored. Focus on that, and you get sloppy in the routines that are so important. Focus on that and you start not showing up on time, not paying attention to details, not being dependable, not finishing on time. Focus on that, and you start saying that you will spend “quality time” with the kids. Only every kid in the universe knows that “quality time” is code for “not very much time,” and it is very much time that they want, that they need. Focus on that and the kids know you’re a part-timer. Start caring about the fact that you’re bored, and the new things that come along tend to be unwelcome and unwanted. You’re not ready for the crisis, the illness, the accident, the setback, the sad, disappointed, reproachful look from your own flesh and blood that says, “Part-timer.”
Nobody cares if you’re bored. If you care, that’s one person too many. No parent thinks the thousandth game of tag is exciting. But there is a small person who needs to think you have lived your entire life just for this game today. There is a big person who is glad you’re home. There is a colleague who is more calm when you’re there. It is remarkable how many people are comforted by the amount of time you’re willing to waste for them doing ordinary things. There is little more true than your routines.
“I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now,” Jesus said (John 16:12). You’re not strong enough yet. Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit will lead you in every true thing. He does not promise that every true thing will be new and exciting. Your routine is a true thing, and the Spirit in it will strengthen you. Do the things you have to do, and do them well. The Holy Spirit will show you the rest.
You want to be a better Christian and read the Bible – excellent. Make Bible reading your routine. You have to read the Bible in a way that makes sense – not just a verse here and a verse there, but systematically identifying and reading through the major building blocks of scripture, then the minor ones. Read them through again and again. It can be the work of years, and Leviticus never gets more exciting, nor the “begats,” and it is always hard to remember which are the kings of Israel, and which of Judah. But eventually the Bible starts to shape your thinking, your speaking, your working, and your relationships. People like to hear what you think, and then they ask you to teach. Or they ask you to lead a new initiative. It’s a new thing, and exciting, the start of a new routine. “The Spirit will lead you in every true thing,” and there is little more true than your routines.
About 80% of the things we do day after day are routine. Maybe more. And the Holy Spirit will lead us in every one. “Not all of us can do great things,” St. Mother Theresa said, “but we can do small things with great love.”
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