Navigating the Waters: How One Tool Can Help You Seek First the Kingdom & Take Back Control of Your Life
Do you ever feel completely overwhelmed by the tasks of daily life & no matter what you do, you just can’t seem to get it all organized?
Yeah, me neither, but I’ve got some friends who feel that way.
All jokes aside, this is the struggle of the modern age, is it not? We are being pulled in a million directions, bombarded with external messaging, and adrift at sea, far from land. Often, I feel as the disciples must have felt as the storm raged on the Sea of Galilee, the waves were breaking over the boat, and I’m crying out to Jesus as he sleeps, “Do you even care if I drown?”
Friends, how do we seek first the kingdom of God when everything else is crying out to be first - the world, our work, our kids, our phones, our friends, our past pains, our current challenges, etc.?
How can we take back our lives from a reactive world of chaos? How do we skillfully sail amidst the raging waves of our daily schedule and demands? How do we summon the strength to keep going when so many of us are on the edge of burnout?
Unfortunately, I can’t answer all of those questions today.
Ross said I could not write a theological treatise on the subject in the spirit of Spurgeon, but I could write a blog post. Apologies, but rules are rules! I may not be able to answer all questions; however, I can offer you a tool that has helped my family. I believe it could help you as well.
This tool has helped me:
take back my life from the reactive demands of the world by attuning myself to the proactive invitations of the kingdom
strengthen relationships with my wife, my kids, and my friends
live life “at the pace of being known.”
Navigator Meeting
My wife and I call it our weekly "Navigator Meeting.”
Every week we sit down for forty-five minutes to an hour and set the coordinates to "navigate" our life. We reset weekly because 1 degree off isn’t alarming, but 1 degree off a week for 52 weeks could be detrimental.
Here's the simple framework we use to keep us aligned with God, with each other, and engaged with the roles and responsibilities God has entrusted to us.
Prayer & Vision
We always begin our time in prayer because we are not trying out some new productivity hack to make our life more “efficient”.
By beginning with prayer, we surrender a level of productivity by first choosing the better portion. The whole point of this exercise is to follow Mary’s lead, not Martha’s. Prayer allows us to release the areas where we are “distracted with much serving” or are “anxious and troubled” to choose the one thing that “is necessary” and can’t be taken away from us (Lk. 10:38-42).
Then, we audibly recite our Family Vision, Mission, and Values. These values allow us to keep a North Star as we navigate. It’s true what the Proverbs say, “Without a vision, the people perish.” Without a vision for our family, it might not be “people” perishing, but our time, relationships, soul, and zeal for God will perish.
If you need some help with shaping your family mission and vision, check out Jefferson Bethke’s “Take Back Your Family,” Adam Griffin and Matt Chandler’s “Family Discipleship,” or John Mark Comer’s “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry.”
After some prayer and articulating our vision, mission, and values, we move to a time of giving thanks.
Thankfulness
During this meeting section, we each share three things we are thankful for from the past week. It’s one of my favorite parts.
In the pressure and stress of life, we can so quickly brush past all the ways God has blessed us. Yet, who wants to stop and give thanks when we are trying to get to the “important” things of this time together, or you can’t wait to bring up that “one thing” with your spouse (yes..I know I keep loading the dishwasher “wrong” and I will work on it!).
Yet, that is precisely why we must force ourselves to pause and give thanks because otherwise, we’ll just rush right past the blessings to the “burdens.”
Paul gives us some guidance on thankfulness in Thessalonians 5. “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” As God’s people, we must be rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks often. Paul also highlights that we are to give thanks in all circumstances, which means that thankfulness is not circumstantial, but a choice.
By choosing gratitude, we shift from comparison to contentment.
Calendar
Next up, we take time to discuss our weekly calendar and make sure they are synced.
Here's the deal, with four kids, extracurriculars, school (why is it that when my child asks for help on the project, it’s always due the next day and right before bed?!), appointments, social lives, date nights, work obligations, “attempting” to stay healthy, chores, etc. - calendar alignment is crucial.
It’s not just crucial practically, though; it’s one of the ways we stay intentional about alignment with the ways of the kingdom.
Paul tells us that we are to “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil (Eph. 5:16). He’s reminding us that life is short (Ps. 90:12), there is a spiritual war raging around us and that we need to utilize that time carefully. This is where you make sure to block out time for a Sabbath, date nights, time with your kids, and time with your community or friends.
After we sync our calendars, we transition to our “weekly agenda.”
Weekly Agenda
The agenda covers a different topic every week throughout the month; then, we give ourselves the freedom to do something fun in months with five weeks.
We have tweaked this section more times than I can count! However, we have landed on this most recently and have found a good balance. Here’s our rotating weekly agenda:
Week 1 - Personal lives + Marriage
Week 2 - Family
Week 3 - Finances
Week 4 - Strategic "Projects"
Week 5 - Celebration or Fun
Spacing out the topics allows you to make changes or implement new plans. Then, we have some data points to pull the next time we meet.
Don’t worry - we are almost done!
Prayer
Last, we end our time in prayer, asking for wisdom, discernment, and the strength to follow through because the Lord knows we need it, amen?!
We also pray to remind ourselves that God may change our plans. As Proverbs 16:9 reminds us, “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.” So we faithfully plan but entrust that plan to the one who establishes our steps.
One prayer I love to pray is the Serenity Prayer. No, not just the bumper sticker or coffee mug version of the prayer. I love praying the original version by Theologian Reinold Niebuhr.
God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, Courage to change the things which should be changed, and the Wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.
Living one day at a time, Enjoying one moment at a time, Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace, Taking, as Jesus did, This sinful world as it is, Not as I would have it, Trusting that You will make all things right, If I surrender to Your will, So that I may be reasonably happy in this life, And supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Amen.
Navigating the Conditions
Now, of course, we sometimes do this differently.
Nothing ruins the best well-made plans like a last-minute email from your boss, getting sick, or a kid throwing up all over you. Yet, even when life is busy, we still prioritize the meeting. We’ll discuss family check-in, calendar, and any big projects on those days, then spend a few moments praying together.
Remember Who is in the Boat
As you navigate the waters of life, it’s important to remember that you need a route and all the right equipment. However, the right equipment doesn’t mean you won’t run into rough waters. It simply means you will have the ability to navigate those waters.
It’s also important to remember that when the storm rages or the water breaks over the boat of your life, the most crucial aspect is not the route, the map, or even your skill. The most important thing is to remember who is in the boat with you.
It’s Jesus — the one who even the winds and the waves obey (Matt. 8:23-27), who is the anchor of your soul (Heb. 6:19) and will be with you always to the end of the age (Matt. 28:20)