Get Your Life Back: Everyday Practices for a World Gone Mad by John EldredgeUzorak

6. Simple Daily Things

Sometimes, it's just the really simple stuff that helps us get out of the chaos, get our souls back, and find God again.

Welcome back, friends, to our final session together. We’re going to begin by practicing the pause, using it for benevolent detachment. “I just give everyone and everything to you,” and we’re going to use it for healing our union, okay? So here we go:

Jesus, I give everyone and everything to you. I give everyone and everything to you. What do I need to release, Lord? And, Jesus, I pray that you would restore our union. Restore our union. Heal our union, Lord.

So, we've been on this journey together to get our lives back, get out of the madness, and find the life of God in us again, to just be able to breathe and drink more deeply from all that He is bringing us.

I want to describe a piece of the madness affecting us in ways I don’t know that we’ve noticed. It started with an email the other day. I got one of those YouTube videos someone sent me, and yes, it was outrageous and got my attention because it was crazy. This is the stuff in our inbox. It was a beautifully done, amazing video of a guy riding a motorcycle on a wave in the ocean. No kidding. Some amazing dirt bike rider had figured out how to put floats on his bike—he was also a surfer, wanting to combine his joys. So he literally surfed a wave on a motorcycle.

So yeah, it was impressive. And yep, it got my attention. I dropped everything I was doing. And here’s the problem: the fantastic, the outrageous—the stuff that’s just so wild—it grabs us, and this is in our daily feed, giving us the wrong impression. The impression is that if you're really living, if you're filled with soul and joy and excitement, then your life looks like that. You're out there just doing fantastic things.

But it’s not true. And that’s really good news because, friends, life is in the dailies. It really is.

I mean, back in the day, back in my day as an older guy, to propose to a girl, yeah, you’d take her out to dinner, maybe to the beach for sunset, take a walk, and get down on one knee. Nowadays, that’s considered so lame. You’ve got to take her skydiving and ask her while you’re falling from 30,000 feet or kayaking over a waterfall. That’s your proposal moment, and there’s always someone there to video it. It’s crazy, folks. This is not real life. Life is not lived in the fantastic. God is waiting for us in the dailies.

Think about marriage and friendship for a moment. They’re not built on the fantastic. Now, yes, Stacy and I love to travel, and we went to Hawaii for our 35th, but honestly, marriage and friendship are built in the really small things. It’s going out for coffee, doing the dishes together, asking, “How was your day?” It’s taking walks, reading to each other, or just sitting in the same room while reading something else.

This is really good news because this culture of ours keeps pressuring us to be amazing and over the top. It’s actually hard on the soul. If you want your soul back, if you want your life back, if you want more of God, the good news is you’re going to find it in the dailies. And your soul will let you know how you’re doing.

I take a daily walk, which is really important to me. I love it, whether in the morning or evening. I keep running into the same guy in our neighborhood, a dog walker. He’s got this little mutt that looks like a loaf of bread with legs—a square little dog, short face, really cute. Every time I see this guy, he’s dragging the dog behind him, leash stretched all the way out. The other day, I saw them, and the dog had laid down on the sidewalk with its paws in the air. Like, "I’m not going any farther." I laughed and thought, "That’s my soul. That’s me and my soul." Me dragging my soul at a pace it doesn’t want to keep. Just pay attention. Your soul will let you know how it’s doing.

In our final session, I want to give you the idea of barometers, signposts, indicators, and gauges to tell you how you’re doing. You should have some in your life. When do you know you're not doing well? What are the barometers?

For me, it was realizing that I wasn’t present with my grandchildren. I was distracted and couldn’t engage, a little irritated at how much time they wanted. But, as a result of these practices, I’ve had a wonderful time with them this summer. I didn’t need to go anywhere. More of me was back. I was present, wholehearted, and able to love and engage.

So, what are your barometers? Let’s start with the negative side. Do people irritate you? Do you need caffeine and sugar to make it through the day? Are you more angry in traffic than usual? Does the one-minute pause irritate you? I’m the guy who wrote this book, and some days, when my phone reminds me to do the pause, I’m irritated by the intrusion. Whoa, barometer—you’re not doing well.

On the positive side, what are the things you know mean you're doing well? Not kayaking off waterfalls but in the simple dailies. For me, it’s paying attention to Stacy in the morning wanting to see my grandchildren. My daily walk is a big positive barometer. I love adventure, but I can’t do that every day. Do I have time for beauty? Have I made room for it this week?

Let’s do an exercise. Pull out something to write with, or just think of it in your head. First, when do you know you're not doing well? What are the indicators when you’re cooked, fried, running on fumes, or pushed into the shallows?

Now, on the positive side, what are the simple dailies and weeklies that remind you, "Yup, I’m living well." Write them down. They might be things you used to do and want to get back to. That’s fine.

Here’s the wonderful thing I love about barometers: Your soul will let you know. If it’s neglected unattended, if you’re not getting life and joy, your soul will let you know.

Filming this series, I came home a little cooked. I was stressed and tired, dealing with chaos in my personal life, and just wanted relief, not restoration. My soul said, "Let’s just watch some TV." So I did. Went downstairs and tried some soccer. I knew it wouldn’t work. I turned it off, and Jesus said, "Just go outside. Sit on the porch. Five minutes." So I went outside. The stars were out, crickets were singing, and there was a cool breeze from the mountains. And soon, I realized, "Yes, this is the God I love. This is who we are." I love saying to Him, "This is who You are. This is who we are. This is our life." I receive You again. I release everything to You. I pray for our union.

Your soul lets you know. And if you look in the eyes of people around you, their souls let you know, too. We are late in the war, friends, and most people are losing. It’s a long, slow war of attrition. You can see the light going out of their eyes—harried, haggard, distracted by media and chaos, not paying attention to their neglected souls. No beauty, no union with God. Humanity is in bad shape.

In this moment, we can be like the Desert Fathers and Mothers. We can offer another way. "You turn your phone off at home? I tried texting you; you didn’t answer until the morning." "Yes, I get off all that in the evening."
"Whoa, what do you do?"

People will see the light in your eyes, the restoration you’re experiencing. It’s all in the dailies, friends.

As we wind up, here are some encouragements. The world we’re living in now requires a life saturated with God. It requires a soul that is well, strong, and resilient. And you know the double bind—the world isn’t going to invite you there. It’s going to fight and try to take that from you constantly.

So, what will you do to get your life back? What will you do to live a sane life? Doesn’t have to be amazing. Here’s my verse for you from Paul in Philippians:

"Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me, everything you heard and saw me doing, and then the God of peace will be with you." (Philippians 4:9).

I love the kindness in that verse. Paul is saying, "Just keep trying, keep practicing what brings you more of God, and then the God of peace will be with you."

He’s not saying, "Get it right." God is nowhere in the pressure to be amazing. This isn’t about being amazing; it’s about the dailies.

So, the things we’ve talked about, the things in your study guide, and so much more in the book, just put those things into practice in the dailies, and God will be with you.

I hope this has been helpful to you. If it has, I hope you’ll invite a few more people in because there are a lot of hurting souls out there who need this. There’s more, lots more. I kept referring to the book through the series. If you haven’t read it, I hope you do—it will refresh your soul. There’s much more on our website—conferences, retreats, podcasts, more videos like this to help you get your soul back and be strong in this world. May the God of peace be with you.

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