Dan Walsh's Blog

Celebrating Release of The Promise – ... Happiness and Low Expectations

Breaking Up Our Routines – a Good Thing

This is the view I saw as I got ready for breakfast this morning. Sometimes it’s good to break up our routines.

Every Wednesday morning, I meet with a group of guys from my church for breakfast. Normally, we meet at Bob Evans. Last week someone suggested we meet at this little restaurant stuck out on the end of a pier instead, in the Daytona Beach area where we live.

It was a good call.

Instead of walking into a crowded parking lot of a franchise place with a decent but predictable menu I got to see this: the sun rising off the ocean, the pleasant sound of crashing waves, a greeting from an interesting variety of friendly birds, a cool sea breeze blowing in from open windows, and a view up and down the beach that can’t be beat. And if I wanted, I could’ve ordered Eggs Benedict with crabmeat. I didn’t. I ordered corned beef hash with scrambled eggs, but it was nice to see so many unique things on the menu.

Like I said, sometimes it’s good to break up our routines. Even this men’s breakfast is a change from my routine. Normally, it’s a bowl of Life cereal eaten while watching Fox & Friends. Oddly enough, I enjoy this routine. For a few moments, I was even tempted to skip out on the men’s breakfast. I was tired. This new place was an extra ten minutes away. It costs money. With coffee and a decent tip–a little over ten bucks (my Life cereal costs about 50 cents a bowl).

But I was brave and courageous, a manly man. I overcame my obstacles, grabbed my keys and headed out the door. Once I got there, within the first five minutes I was glad I did. Besides all the things I’ve already mentioned, spending time with real friends is way more refreshing than spending time with 3 people I don’t really know, watching them sit on a couch and tell me all the things I already know are wrong with the world.

Know what I mean?

Isn’t it sad how easily we form habits and routines? It’s like some involuntarily thing inside us just clicks into place. We do something once, then we do it again, and soon…this is what we do, this is how it’s done. As if we can’t bear the weight of having to make one more decision.

It’s why we sit in the same seats at church. Even as we drive into the parking lot and walk through the front doors, we’re not just going to find a seat in the auditorium. We’re heading for our seat. And when we sit down, most of the people around us look very familiar. With good reason, they did the same thing. They sat in their seat.

I’m not saying this a bad thing. But I think sometimes giving into this…thing, isn’t always a good thing. It has the potential to lock us into patterns that can keep us from experiencing some wonderful blessings God has in store for us; blessings that lie just beyond the borders of our habits and routines.

Think about Jesus in the Gospels. I’ve been rereading them in my quiet times. And I’ve noticed something. Jesus hardly ever does the same thing twice. Every day for the disciples must’ve been like a brand-new adventure. Jesus constantly said and did new things, different things than anyone else they had ever met.

But he wasn’t being different just to be frivolous or artsy. He told them that everything He did and everything He said were the things the Father wanted Him to do and say. Just looking at God’s creation, we can tell that God is faithful as a rock and reliable as the sunrise, but that He is also infinitely creative and possesses a wonderful imagination.

There are almost 28,000 species of fish alone. I drove by a condominium complex recently that boasted five different floor plans to choose from (count ‘em…FIVE). God’s imagination and creativity boggle the mind. Ours? Not so much.

We think going to a different breakfast place is something.

How about you? Done anything ‘wild and crazy’ lately? Something totally out of the ordinary, totally not like you?