Get Your Life Back: Everyday Practices for a World Gone Mad

by John Eldredge

I think it was Archibald Hart who pointed out that because we are so accustomed to moving pedal to the metal in our own world, the thing we overlook in the Gospels are all of the in-between times when Christ and his followers were walking from one town to another. When the record states, “The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee” (John 1:43), we project our own pace upon it, not realizing it took the boys three days by foot to get there. Three days just strolling along, talking, or sharing the silent beauty; the pauses for lunch or a drink from a well; the campfires in the evening. Even as I write this, it sounds luxurious.

We are forcing our souls through multiple gear-changes each day, each hour, and after years of this we wonder why we aren’t even sure what to say when a friend genuinely inquires, “How are you?” We don’t really know; we aren’t sure what we feel anymore. We live at one speed: go. All the subtleties of human experience have been forced into one state of being. Mercy. No soul was meant to live like this. What sort of madness have we come to accept as normal when a One Minute Pause feels like a luxury?!

Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:9 nlt)

I love the kindness of this encouragement. Keep putting into practice. It’s not about perfection; it’s not about being amazing. God is nowhere in the pressure to be amazing. He’s waiting in the simple dailies. Just keep putting into practice the things that heal your soul and bring you more of Jesus. Then the God of peace will be with you. You’ll no longer be sipping God from teaspoons; you’ll learn to drink deeply from the tangible, nourishing, life-giving presence of the eternal God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—the fountain of living waters.