Mid-flight Clarity
I was trapped – and didn’t even know it.
On May 3, 2025, I was flying home from Southern California when a revelation hit me – one that freed me from chains I didn’t even realize I was carrying.
The first few months of the year had been tough. January and February were particularly heavy, and March didn’t offer much relief.
But something began to shift as April rolled around. By the end of the month, heading into May, everything felt brighter. My mind was sharper. Ideas were bubbling. My energy had returned. Hope was rising.
And even though I was still battling a nagging physical injury – something I thought was the cause of my stagnation – it felt like I had been released from a mental prison of my own making.
This felt good.
With a few quiet hours in the air, I took the opportunity to reflect. What was different? What was changing? And more importantly – what could I learn from it?
That’s when a word came to mind. A beautiful word I first encountered more than a decade ago during a season of deep spiritual growth.
At the time, I was on staff at a church, and our leadership team was going through an extended study on spiritual formation. Over the course of a couple years, we invited some incredible voices into our journey: Ruth Haley Barton, Jamin Goggin, Larry Osborne, and Larry Crabb, to name a few.
Each brought their own insight. But it was Ruth Haley Barton who first unlocked this concept for me as she introduced the message from her book, Sacred Rhythms.
Just typing the word settles something in me.
Rhythms.
That was it – the word that surfaced during my flight. But this time, it wasn’t about spiritual practice. It was about my calendar.
I had been trying so hard to fit my life into the world’s standard annual cycle. But suddenly, I could see how misaligned that cycle was with the reality of my personal and professional life.
January 1 might mark the beginning of a new year on the calendar. But in my world, it means something entirely different:
It’s the beginning of tax season – the closing of the previous year’s personal and business finances
It’s the heart of basketball season – a time that demands every ounce of resolve and energy
And…it’s winter in the Midwest – ‘nuff said
Nothing about that scenario feels like a new beginning.
But April?
Tax season is behind us
Recovery from a grueling basketball stretch is underway
Spring has arrived
And I get to attend the first of two annual peer trainings that nourish my soul – held in beautiful places like Dana Point, California
Now that feels like a launchpad. A rhythm that fits.
That one flight home will likely end up being a turning point in how I structure my year from now on.
I will “not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of [my] mind…" (Romans 12:2)
From here on out – Q2 is my New Year.
…
Thanks for taking a moment to read about this personal revelation. But let me leave you with something more – a challenge, especially for purpose-driven leaders.
Your journey is incredibly demanding. You are surrounded by opportunities, challenges, problems to solve, and tensions to manage.
Forget balance. It’s a fallacy.
Instead, lean into rhythm – the rhythm God designed uniquely for how you are wired and where you have been placed.
You’re not just a leader. You are also a parent, a child, a sibling, a neighbor, a citizen, a peer, a contributor, a consumer – and more.
And you were made to live in sacred rhythms.
Discovering those rhythms – and learning to live within them – is one of the highest callings of our human existence.
May God bless your pursuit of his rhythm for your life.
Blessings to you all, my friends.
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This Week’s Resource Recommendation:
“Sacred Rhythms: Arranging Our Lives for Spiritual Transformation”
- Ruth Haley Barton
From Amazon: Do you long for a deep, fundamental change in your life with God? Do you desire a greater intimacy with God? Do you wonder how you might truly live your life as God created you to live it?
Sacred Rhythms invites you into a spiritual journey that nurtures your soul while aligning your daily life with the presence of God. Drawing from the monastic tradition of creating a rule of life, this book equips readers to integrate spiritual disciplines into their everyday routines, paving the way for authentic spiritual transformation that can only be brought about by God.
In Sacred Rhythms, Ruth Haley Barton takes you more deeply into understanding seven key disciplines along with practical ideas for incorporating them into everyday life. Each chapter features practical exercises designed to help you integrate the practices, whether on your own or in a group setting. The final chapter weaves everything together, helping you structure your life for meaningful spiritual transformation.
In Sacred Rhythms, you will
Understand seven key spiritual disciplines: solitude, Scripture, prayer, honoring the body, self-examination, discernment, and Sabbath.
Learn to integrate these disciplines into your daily life, with practical exercises for both individuals and groups.
Create a rule of life that makes space for God’s presence in your daily life.
Reflect on principles and practices for living a life of spiritual growth and transformation.
Sacred Rhythms invites you to deepen your relationship with God through establishing your own sacred rhythm of life with God. Begin transforming the rhythms of your life today!
MMS 25-22
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Blessings to you, my friend!
