A few weeks ago, I heard a term that I can't stop thinking about. It comes from an interview with Mike Bullmore about his recent book, The Heart of Preaching. In the interview and the book, he talks about the idea of spiritual organization.
Bullmore got the idea from J. I. Packer's excellent book, The Quest for Godliness, which describes Puritan life:
They lived by ‘method’ (we would say, by a rule of life), planning and proportioning their time with care, not so much to keep bad things out as to make sure that they got all good and important things in—necessary wisdom, then as now, for busy people! We today, who tend to live unplanned lives at random in a series of non-communicating compartments and who hence feel swamped and distracted most of the time, could learn much from the Puritans at this point.
In his book, Bullmore says:
Often when we think about faithfulness and perseverance, we think about discipline over time. Certainly that’s an important component to our faithfulness and perseverance. But I want to suggest that if two critical items aren’t present ahead of discipline, discipline will not last. The two things I have in mind are intentionality and—my special focus here—spiritual organization. I’m thinking of our intention to pursue certain things and our purposefulness in organizing our lives to facilitate those things.
In other words, we need three things:
- Intentionality — setting out to do the right things
- Spiritual organization — a plan to organize our lives and schedules so that certain practices, “especially rhythms of spiritual refreshment and rest,” are in place
- Discipline — the ability to choose what is best in the moment
We usually focus on the third, but discipline isn’t sustainable without the first two. Our disciplines are often unsustainable because they're not supported by an organized life. We often promise to try new habits after reading a book or going to a conference, but these promises usually disappear within weeks. This happens because our daily routines aren't set up to help us keep them. Discipline alone won't last; we need to organize our lives to support the things we want.
Spiritually Organize Your Life
I've been thinking about that a lot. What would it look like for us to organize our lives this way? How can we not only avoid bad things but also ensure we have enough good things, like Scripture intake, praying, worshiping, and other habits that nourish our souls?
The place to start isn’t with discipline. That comes later. The place to start is to begin with deciding what we want to build in our lives. Then we need a plan for how to create healthy rhythms that allow us to build these good things into our lives. We need to answer practical questions like what we want to do, when we want to do it, and how. While you plan what to do, also think about rest, refreshment, and space you need in your life to achieve those goals. Think about the daily, weekly, and yearly rhythms that you will need.
Bullmore argues that spiritual organization is a powerful contributor to faithfulness and perseverance. It will help you build sustainable habits and maintain them well for a long time.
There was a time when I didn't even think of such a thing. I would just argue that we need to practice things like Bible reading and prayer. But now I'm convinced Bullmore is right. To be successful at maintaining these habits, we need the rhythm that spiritual organization provides.
What sort of practices do you need in your life? What annual, weekly, and daily rhythms will help you not only keep bad things out but ensure good and right things get in?
Don't rely too much on discipline alone; build rhythms into your life that make it easier to do the things that help you grow.
