Welcome my friends to season 3 of the Determined to Dance podcast. My prayer is that you’ll be encouraged to persevere daily in our chaotic world. On today’s episode, Avoid the Routine Rut, we’ll focus on how to keep from getting stuck in a routine while dancing.

Show Notes: Avoid the Routine Rut

The Oregon Trail. A two-thousand-mile trail from Missouri to Oregon that covered wagons followed for many years. My kids used to play the video game of this event at school and we owned a newer version on my old Gateway computer.

Today, the furrows left behind are five feet deep in places and you can walk in the ruts of history. Amazing.

While these wagon tracks are a historical treasure, the ones we can forge in our spiritual life are far from good. Jeff Walling talks about staying spiritually awake. He says: Patterns of behavior that are familiar are comforting. That’s why folks get really pushed out of shape when someone tinkers with the order of worship at their church. Yet there’s more to ‘sleepy faith’ than falling into a worship rut. Religion that becomes routine leaves the participants sleepwalking through their faith life with half-lidded spiritual eyes. Scripture, inspired by the Spirit to pierce their hearts, ends up bouncing off their sleepy souls amid thoughts of ‘Boy, my cousin Ed ought to read that verse. He really needs it.’ Joy and exuberance are replaced with a soul-numbing lethargy; these sleepwalkers don’t get too excited about anything, for they’ve seen it all before…twice. And effectively sharing their faith is hard to do while trying to swallow yet another yawn.”

I so understand what he’s saying. I’ve been pretty consistent in church since I was nine years old and sometimes, I feel like I’ve heard it all before. Which is unbelievably silly. God’s Word is living and will become fresh every day if we allow it.

Walling says like crossing the street, we need to stop, look, and listen when it comes to a boring routine. We stop and take inventory of areas of our life that we’ve let grow stale. Routine feels safe but it can damage our relationship with God.

Look. See with a child’s eyes. Hear with their ears and take note of all your senses. I’ve been taking time each day to listen to the birds sing outside our house. They’re always there but I haven’t always taken notice of the wonderful blessing of birdsong.

Listen. Take time daily to listen to God. He speaks in so many ways and longs for us to know His heart, His will, and His wisdom. And I need that so badly. Don’t you?

You would think the people listening to Jesus in His day would be astounded and many were. However, in Matthew 13: 14-15, Jesus spoke to the Pharisees: “In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.” NIV

The Oregon Trail. The pioneer wagon ruts can still be seen in all six states that once encompassed the trail. I’m sure many wagons were actually stuck in muddy places all along the road. We don’t want to be stuck in the rut of religion. Ask God today what is next and don’t be afraid to step out.

Let’s pray: Father God, we love You and worship You with all our hearts. Help us to see when we are falling into the ‘same old, same old’ and deliver us from boring routine. We want to dance freely with you and not play it safe any longer. Protect us as we follow You. In Jesus’ name, we pray, amen.

Move away from any spiritual ruts while you can.
Today’s featured author is Dawn Shipman, author of Kingdom Lost, a YA fantasy novel. Princess Lyric doesn’t know that non-human, intelligent beings—some of them savage—live in her world. When her kingdom is torn from her,