the power of repetition

Today I will be brief.

Chris Wiersma often refers to the idea that we have 16 acres, 1000 people, 6+ billion people in the world to serve, and 360 degrees of possibility. I have heard him say that often over this past year, but it was on Sunday that those words got inside me and I said to myself, “that’s right! the possibilities begin locally but expand globally! who knows the impact we can have if we awaken to them”. One could call that positive self-talk, or one could consider such thoughts a premise for a really significant prayer. I think, at least for me at that moment, it was the later. I was inspired, and all because of Chris had repeated something enough times for it to take root in my own consciousness.

My simple thought today is this: what are you repeating in your life? What words, or actions, or habits, or disciplines are you continually rehearsing? Choose well, for repetition will have a way of getting inside of you, and eventually become part of who you are.

I continually talk about the need to say and understand The Lord’s Prayer, both as a daily discipline, but also as a way to understand the heart and essence of prayer. For the past 4 years I have been saying and thinking through this model prayer daily, to the degree that I am learning to enter its wisdom and richness in ways that were not present to me before I began this habit.

Look for something to repeat, something worthwhile and valuable, something that will allow you to sink a deep shaft into the truth and beauty and goodness of the world we live in and the God we serve. Choose wisely (a passage from Scripture is best), and then let it sit with you a long time. If you are mindful of this advice later, I would love to know a year from now how repeating those words or thoughts changed your life over time. There is power in repetition.

This Sunday we continue our series for June, Things I Wish I Could Say. See you on the weekend.