The Quotidian Extrication

quotidian: daily, usual or customary, everyday, ordinary, commonplace

extrication: to free or release from entanglement  

There's something about monotony & routine: it's safe; boring but safe. 

I remember my Grandpa Pratt, he's been gone a few years now & I miss him but there's one thing I'll always remember about him: every morning he got up early & had a grilled cheese sandwich for breakfast. Every. Single. Morning. 

Growing up, I watched my dad execute his own routine: made coffee, grabbed his Bible & concordance, read for an hour then made breakfast; that's how he started his day, every day. He was very disciplined in that way…

When I'd take my Grandma Cooper to the Chinese restaurant, she'd always get the same food, every single time. I'd say, “Grandma, try this food” & she'd reply, “I don't want to! I like this.”

Millions of people are creatures of habit, they do the same thing every day/week/weekend/year, year after year; it bothers some, others have just gotten used to it.

Some work the same jobs for 30, 40, 50 years while others change jobs every 5-10 just to do something different.

Here's some ideas to break the monotony of life that most of us fall into:

• Try replacing breakfast & lunch w/ a brunch once a week; if you really want shake things up, invite someone over to join you.
• Take one night a week, clear your schedule & watch a sunset in a different place each time: a park, the beach, the town square, etc. Maybe grab your guitar or mandolin & quietly close out your day w/ some intimate worship
• Once a week, wake up early, grab a cup of coffee & watch a sunrise on your deck or patio. Close your eyes for a minute & listen to sounds of nature, listen to the birds in their morning worship service… it's a perfect time to pray in tongues.
• Maybe twice a week, leave 15-20 minutes early for work & take a different route… there's so much to see in the world & sometimes we miss it because of our routines.
• If you usually have morning devotions switch it up once a week & have afternoon or evening devotions. It's great to read your Bible every day but switch it up 2-3 times a week w/ listening to the Bible, a chapter here, an entire book there… something that really brought freshness to me was listening to the different letters in the NT in their entirety.
• Even playing guitar can get monotonous: learn new styles, new scales, new chords, chord voicings, alternate tunings, play w/ a capo or even a cut capo, play around w/ some different effects, shake it up, break it up
• When writing songs, try to avoid the usual verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo-chorus format, chop that song up w/ different arrangements 
• Once a month, go to a retirement home & play some games w/ the folks, listen to their stories, learn something from them…
• Once a month, go to an orphanage & play w/ some kids or get a group together & visit the children's ward at your local hospital.
• In your fellowship, maybe forgo a sermon once a month & have 4-5 youth share for 5-10 minutes on a certain topic
• Have an outdoor service once in a while, either in the parking lot, the beach or at the park where your church picnic is held then morph right into food & fellowship

These are just ideas to do something different, shake up the monotony of life that we all fall into from time to time. What are you ideas? How do you break free from the mundane?