the common rule: Habits of Purpose for an Age of Distraction
According to some, we live almost half of our lives by habit. We tend to think that some people are good at this and some aren’t. The truth is we all live by habit. We need them, or else we’d have to rethink everything all the time. Habits are the small decisions you make and actions you perform every day. Like scrolling Facebook as soon as we wake up or putting on a coffee before we talk to our family members. Your life today is essentially the sum of your habits. How in shape or out of shape you are? A result of your habits. How happy or unhappy you are? A result of your habits. How successful or unsuccessful you are? A result of your habits. What you repeatedly do (i.e. what you spend time thinking about and doing each day) ultimately forms the person you are, the things you believe, and the personality that you portray.
The trick is to choose habits that put us in the path of grace. When you learn to transform your habits, you can transform your life. When certain practices like Scripture reading, prayer, and fellowship become second nature to us, we’re more likely to grow in our pursuit of God. For this reason, we commend to you The Common Rule - a pattern of four daily and four weekly habits designed to counter the chaos of our modern technological life. It’s meant to be done with friends, and it’s designed to push ordinary life toward love of God and neighbour. You can read more about the habits on the website. There are daily habits like Scripture before phone and turning your phone off for an hour a day of presence. There are also weekly habits like sabbath and pursuing intentional conversation with friends. These habits are designed to disrupt the patterns of cultural formation that currently frame our lives and introduce habits that push us toward community, toward presence, and toward believing the gospel more deeply. It's the worth the time to take a look.
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