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Justin Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We are in the land of milk and honey the land that takes forever that nobody knows what day it is. This podcast is going to come out the week. Between Christmas and New Year's. It's the most wonderful time of year. Right? I mean we finally made it. All the all the packages are under the tree.
They've been opened all the shopping's done now. I mean of course there are the returns to do probably but Hey it's such a great time. I think because not only do we get that time to kind of honor the savior honor God and sending him but It's also a time for most of us that things slow down quite a bit.
And it's really specifically the weekend between right right where we're at between Christmas and New Year's here that you know just everything slows down when catch our breath a little bit. Yeah. And so this episode is is timely for when it for this particular week but it's also timely for seasons in our lives that.
that are are all about being reset and recalibrated. And when we think about being recalibrated Justin kind of what are some of the things that you think about with recalibration? Yeah. So I actually looked this up in a dictionary right? What does recalibrate mean? Well the first definition was super helpful.
It means to calibrate again right? Which actually wasn't helpful. Oh that's nice. It's very what do you ever feel like the dictionary is kind of a smart Alec sometimes. Yeah and this was one of those times. So I had to go to calibrate means to check or adjust by comparison with a standard or to mark the scale of a measuring instrent.
And so this idea of getting back to something right and to adjust based on something that was a certain way. that's what recalibration is. And so this episode really thinking about that. As a natural normal part of our life and of course you know the timing of this episode is intentional because we're right here at the new year and for many people that's when a natural sort of recalibration happens is these things called New Year's resolutions which are preceded by you know some thought and some consideration around how is my life going?
What are some changes that I think Really need to be made as I move into the new year. And so what we've done today is we've kind of broken up the idea of recalibrating into a couple of palatable steps right? We're talking about resting rooting and pruning. And we're going to take each one and think about how you can do it not only during this holiday season but how you can make it a regular part of your work on a.
On a routine basis. So Justin why don't you kick us off by talking about the idea of resting? Yeah. So this first part of recalibration is around rest and it's what I really believe about it is that if we don't rest first it's really hard. to reflect. And so I would propose that reflection follows rest.
And so the first thing we need to do if we're going to recalibrate in our life with God and recalibrate so that we can abide more deeply we need to get some rest in our life. We need to get to a place where we can exhale or we can be present be still before the Lord. Then we can look back. Then we can think about really considering some questions about what is true.
In our life right now you know some questions that I'd like to ask myself are where am I like where is my heart? How's my soul doing? and I I really can't get there Tony unless I take that time to really get stillness. And for me it's it's quiet and solitude. really helps me get to a place where I can hear the innermost parts of of who I am and connect to God.
And one of the things that is interesting is I've done this many times throughout my life is I will sit and feel restless internally. But there's a point after which I kind of decompress by sitting and And just getting into that silent space that still space that I feel like an exhale happen and exhale from not just my breath but just the stress level.
It just seems to come down and then I can get to a place where you know I can. I can really consider some questions and think deeply about them. Now Tony we've talked about before like you and I are a little bit different in design. And so what how do you rest? How do you get to that space where you get to that place where you can reflect?
I you know so for me I think part of what I need to do sometimes. Is I need to rest by doing activities that are different than what I normally do in work right? And so because I work so much with my mind resting with my hands is one of my go to. I think we've talked about that before in a podcast. And so for me sometimes taking on a project or a creative endeavor that's outside of my normal work right?
And That's a good way for me to rest. I also really enjoy resting outdoors. That's really important for me. We we've recently gained a canine in our home a dog. And one of the things that I didn't anticipate was that how much rest comes with walking the dog. It's become a restful activity to me. even though it's freezing outside.
That's really cool. Really cool. So if you're listening along what I would like to ask you is to find that space where you can rest find that space where stillness is going to come to the inner parts of who you are and then consider these questions. How is your pace? Is it is it sustainable for you? are things in your life trending upwards or trending downwards?
What's going really great for you? and just ask open ended questions of the Lord God. What would you what would you have to say to me in this space and time? And for me I normally like to have a pen or pencil handy so I can journal some of these things so I don't lose them as I am in prayer with the Lord but taking that time to rest is really going to set up the rest of this recalibration exercise but the resting really sets up reflection.
Okay Tony. So the next part would be rooting. So can you walk us through that? Yeah. For rooting is I was kind of thinking about man what's a good scripture to talk about when it comes to rooting? I was thinking about Jeremiah 17 seven and eight and you may have heard this before it says but blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord.
whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out his roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes. It leaves are always green. It has no worries in the year of drought and never fails to bear fruit. And what I love about this vert is that I really think it it begins to paint the picture of what rooting and abiding means when it comes to how to root yourself in the Lord.
Right? And the rooting in the verses from Jeremiah comes from the roots being planted by a stream the water specifically think about the living water. So your ability to be rooted is directly connected to your ability to be connected to Jesus. And so there's daily rooting and you know what the daily rooting is.
It's scripture it's prayer it's worship but then there's also there's more intentional emotional and physical rooting right? So I know that I can get off my game when I am not working out on a regular basis when I'm not talking to my counselor on a regular basis. Those are some of the ways that I root myself and you know Justin even you're an eyes relationship is a part of my rooting when it comes to like the intentional friends that I have that I meet with that are just a part of my regular rhythm.
And so as an extrovert as somebody who's super relational. I know that I can get to a really bad place or not be rooted when I'm away from the people that mean the most to me when I'm away from my relationship with Jesus when I'm away from my relationship with my friends. And so and that includes non Christian friends right?
So like being missionally rooted and surrounding myself with people who I know. Don't follow Jesus. That's a part of the rhythm that I really appreciate. So you know you kind of asked me let me ask you what what does rooting or abiding look like in your life? Yeah I think for me as I'm moving through this sort of exercise right.
To recalibrate this this part I'm really asking myself how nourished? Spiritually how am I being nourished emotionally? How am I being nourished relationally emotionally? And one of the things that I believe is that this rooting leads to thriving right? If I'm really abiding well if I'm rooting well in Christ then I'm going to be thriving.
I'm not going to be having too much. I'm not going to feel restless because I don't have things that I'm moving towards that my heart is moving towards in a calling sort of way. And so. When I think about man what what is it that's really nourishing me? I want to I want to double down into those things right?
And I think about roots right? And this idea of rooting. Well roots need to be strengthened and they go deeper. They don't just stay on the surface. And so the more deep they get the more. nourishment they can find and the less what's the word? It's kind of it's the less fragile that they are right?
Because they're they're more robust and resilient to the things that happen in their environment. And so the more that I can root the more that I can abide. It's really doubling down on those things that I'm seeing. Wow this is really nourishing me. This is really helping me. And yeah some of those same things that you said Tony of friendship.
it is my time with God and just getting time with him but also being present when I am with him. I think about missionally those things that. living into the calling that I feel like God has given me and being able and free to engage those things without being distracted or my time being demanded in other ways.
but yeah I think this idea of rooting is so important as abiding. One of the interesting things about this is that this is a great time of the year to maybe sneak away for like four hours. and work on something like your values or your rule of life. And I really love as a resource I really love Pete Scazzaro emotionally healthy spirituality right?
That that is a great tool to develop what. We did in seminaries a practice that I still use called the rule of life. And so I always start by going with my values right? I'm a I'm a man who values faith and family and generosity and hility and building the kingdom of God. And so then what I do is I lay out those values.
And I put action steps underneath them so that I can evaluate if I really am rooted or abiding in what God has called me to. And so because I know what God has called me to that really helps clarify things. And for me that's just one of those practices. I typically do my rule of life evaluation. In October when I go on a pastor's retreat in October but this time of year is a great time to do this and really get yourself kind of resettled.
All right Justin take us to pruning. Pruning always an important one. Yeah so pruning is probably the hardest one of these for most of us. but I asked the question what things are keeping you from God or from the calling that he's placed on your life? Now I find in my life that most of these things aren't bad things they're good things.
They're things that are helpful in some way but they're just a little bit off from the calling that God has given to me. And I think part of why recalibration is needed and the way the reason that pruning is needed is because healthy things just grow a lot. And they grow all these offshoots and one quote that I heard not too long ago is that success brings opportunities and distractions and the challenge is to decide which is which or to discern which is which.
And so pruning happens and and it needs to happen I should say because there's so many opportunities that come from a full life and a life that's lived with God. But in our lives we need to think about well What needs to be untangled in my life? What are the things that I'm engaged in that I just don't feel that fully align or fit with the calling that God has given me?
And then how can I how can I prune? I mean I want to say cut those things off but it sounds so harsh but pruning I mean it's a hard process. It's a hard process because there's normally people involved in the things that we're cutting out. And it's not that we're cutting the people out. We're just cutting out the thing in our life that doesn't fit what God has called us to.
And it's keeping us from really thriving or living fully into the things that God has has really directed us to do. I've found in my life that pruning is a regular thing that we have to do. And if we don't then our life kind of gets overgrown and we're not able to give sufficient priority or attention to the most important things.
in our life. Tony how have you experienced pruning? Have you experienced this in your life? And has it been easy or difficult for you? What's it been like? Well as a natural extrovert I oftentimes over book my calendar with people right? And so one of the ways that I think about pruning is I think about it with good boundaries right?
So what are the boundaries? That I need to put in place so that I can live out what I think God is calling me to do. And so back to your point right? Everything can't be a yes because then your yes loses its its potency and power right? So I think so much of this is about having good healthy boundaries so that.
So that you can operate in alliance or in alliance. I don't even know what that means in obedience. That's the word I was looking for with what God has called you to write in. And I always want to create space and space is one of those things for me. That is always something I'm I'm losing. You know I was people are always like Tony you're super busy.
And I'm like well I'm not super busy. I'm I'm perfectly full. And so I was . You know I I think I think that's part of it right? I think that's part of it is that I want to be perfectly full and joyfully obedient.
Yeah. Well I love that. I love that idea of being perfectly full. Right. And that's that's what we want. We want a life of fullness a life of abiding and a life where the things that aren't aren't from God for us in this season we want those things to be pruned away so that we can be more focused on the things that are from Him.
Now Tony we each have a quote here that we wanted to share. And so let me share the first one. This relates to the whole topic of you know recalibration as abiding. It's just this regular thing that we want to do so that we can follow God more fully. And this quote's from A. W. Tozer a theologian and pastor.
It says this it says We may want God but we want something else more and we will get what we want the most. Again we may want God but we want something else more and we will get what we want the most. And so if we want God the most that's why we need to take this time to recalibrate. It doesn't have to be this time of year but I would suggest at least once a year you're taking time to recalibrate so that you can be abiding fully in Him.
Yeah. And I wanted to share a quote from Robert Brault that says we failed to reach our goals not because of obstacles but because of a clear path to lesser goals. Right. And I love this idea about the clear path to lesser goals because so many times we settle when we should strive we should we kind of lean out when we should lean in and I don't know about you but it's just really easy for me to get distracted.
Another thing that we say all the time that I say all the time is that if you're not dedicated to your disciplines. You'll be destroyed by your distractions. And recalibration is a great way to do that. Justin why don't you give us the takeaway and action step for today? Absolutely. So our takeaway is recalibration is essential to abiding and it involves resting rooting and pruning.
And our action step. Hey take at least three to four hours to recalibrate this holiday season. And if you're not going to do it this holiday season maybe you have another space in your calendar in 2024 that it would fit. Put it in your calendar so you don't forget it because this is so so so important.
for all of us to do because the drift is real. We drift away from the things that we want to be about and to do. And so recalibration just gets us back on track and helps us to abide more deeply in him. As always thank you for listening. if you can continue to pass this on reach out to others share this with others and Like and review our podcast wherever you can do that We are really grateful for you and we're excited to be moving into another calendar year with you we pray that 2024 will be fruitful for you and Will be one of those years that all of us look at and we think boy that was a year that we really took a Major step forward in abiding with Christ.
We'll see you next time