Good morning, world. Things are looking pretty good from the front porch of my farm in Virginia today. It’s another cold and cloudy morning at the farm, and I’m longing to see the sun. It seems like it’s been day after day of gloomy skies, so my first thought the first thing this morning was “here we go again”; but that attitude didn’t go over well with my God. In the blink of an eye He opened the sky and He quickly pointed me in the Right Direction. He lit up my heart and my soul with His Majesty in every way that matters. The skies may have become “routine” in my heart, but time with the Living God will never look or feel that way when He’s the Keeper of your Heart. Isn’t that the way the it feels for you too?

Some routines in the life are necessary in order to function, because they set us apart as the “responsible” ones, and they add law and order to our world. But some people get so accustomed to their routines that if anything alters the routine even in the slightest of ways; everything else gets off track too, and before you know it their life is off kilter and disheveled. Some people find security in routines, and they’ve learned to identify themselves by them, and nobody or nothing on the planet could get them to change the routine because “that’s the way I do things”. Some people refuse to go here and there, and they refuse to do this and that, because if they do; they’ll fall out of their routine…the thing they value most There is no room for spontaneity in the midst of rigid routines, and once we get so programmed to perform each little task, we perform them without thinking or feeling at all…unless something threatens to shake things up, that is. There’s a lot of value in having a routine if we want to function like responsible human beings, that’s for sure. But when it comes to the Living God; routine doesn’t go over very well, and routine can lead to us into doing “godly” things over and over again without even thinking about it. There are countless little routine things that we do for our children, or our mate as an expression of love, but those routines aren’t the keys to having a relationship at all. If routine doesn’t “cut it” for our relationships here on earth; why would the Living God, the Creator of All, the Alpha and Omega be alright with just a little well-meaning routine from us either?

Six times the Bible mentions singing a “new song”. A “new song” wasn’t needed because the old ones got old. A new song was referring to new joy, renewed love, new hope, and a multitude of other possible “news” that break us away from the routine and set us apart from just the “orderly ones”…especially when it comes to the Heart. If we turn to the Bible, we see that when Jesus was asked how we are to pray; He gave a great example in the Lord’s Prayer, but He wasn’t offering us a script to just be repeated mindlessly as part of our “godly routine”. The prayer He gave (as an example) was to direct us in HOW to pray, not WHAT to pray, and the first thing on the “how to pray” list is to Praise Him and Honor Him. If that’s the first thing on the List…the most significant part of our prayers…don’t you think God might want it to come from the Heart and not from a routine script? This is what sets apart Relationship from routine.

I have a few routines of my own, but I’m spontaneous by nature…especially when it comes to my Time the Living God. I set apart the time to spend with Him and then it all begins with Praise…for who He is, and for all that He does for me. I don’t have a script, because I don’t need one. I just pour out my Heart to my Amazing, Powerful, Loving, Mighty and Spontaneous God and He’s true to His Word every single time “draw near to God, and He will draw near to you”.

How about you?