A guest post from Kyle Gilbert, Vice President for Communication at MEDIAlliance

We all experience times when life and ministry can be difficult, and sometimes the holidays seem to multiply those challenges. To help focus our hearts in the direction of grace, I want to offer up three ways to renew your heart as we begin a new year.

Today I’d like to talk about the first way: Changing Your Routine

Habits are interesting things. Usually they’re helpful, but sometimes they can be a little bizarre. For instance, I read that some people can’t help but remember all the numbers they see each day. Other people feel like they need to close each door and closet in their house before they go to bed. For me, each morning, while microwaving my oats for breakfast, I scramble around the kitchen getting everything I need (spoon, milk, cinnamon, sweetener) before the timer hits zero. Another weird habit of mine is feeling an insurmountable urge to enter my house and close the door before the garage door closes completely.

Despite the weirdness of some habits, when you take time to look at it, much of what we do each day is based on our routines. What we do when we wake up, how we begin and end our meals, our activities at work, and what we do to get ready for bed.

Fortunately, habits can be very useful. I don’t have to think about putting on deodorant or brushing my teeth in the morning, because that’s what I always do when I get out of the shower. Our routines assist us by reducing the number of decisions we have to make each day.

But, sometimes our routines cause us to focus on things that don’t really matter, like scrolling through social media or looking at the news. Our routines can also cause us to take the things and people around us for granted. And the same can easily happen in our relationship with God.

Fortunately, the reverse is also true. When we intentionally break some of our routines, we allow ourselves to consider new alternatives and create opportunities for God to speak to our hearts in new ways.

Here are a few examples of routine changes:

  1. Going for a prayer walk.
  2. Fasting a meal or a few meals.
  3. Writing out your prayers.
  4. Reading a different translation of the Scriptures.
  5. Including your spouse or family member in your devotional time.
  6. Watching a movie or television series about our Jesus.
  7. Reading a devotional.
  8. Writing a song or poem to God.
  9. Sharing a struggle with a friend.
  10. Memorizing a passage of Scripture.
  11. Creating art while listening to worship music.

So, what new routine should you begin this week? What would allow you to begin your time with God with new energy and intentionality? Is there some way you need to engage with your kids or spouse?

Take a moment now to plan what you want to do differently.