Most of us wake up every morning and do what we’ve done every day for years. We like our routines, often a lot more than we realize. As someone said, “It is not without sadness that we do anything for the last time.”
The happier we are, the deeper the rut we may be in. I found myself describing my life: “I live at the South edge of a very small town, and work on its North side. It’s a little over a mile from one end of town to the other. I wake up in the morning, wash, dress, and drive or (rarely) walk to work. At the end of the day, I reverse that process.”
I am perfectly happy with that routine. Sometimes, trips become necessary that require flying. If there’s sufficient business reason for making the trip, I have no problem. But, I would not think of running the increasingly painful airport gauntlet for a mere vacation. When neighbors announce tell me they are going on a vacation, I am invariably surprised.
“Why would you want to go anywhere when you could be here?”, I ask, in genuine astonishment.
A couple of years ago, a local couple went to spend a month in the Yucatan. An entire month. “What will you do down there for an entire month?”, I queried. “Will you spend some of that time actually speaking with local Mexicans and finding out how they feel about things?”
They had, it appeared, no plans to do that, which would have provided no discernible advantages for either them or for the Mexicans who’d have the misfortune to have their good manners strained by being so interrogated. So, what did they do for an entire month? I don’t know, but it appeared that they enjoyed their routine of going to far-away places for long periods of time.
I like my routine. They like their routine. All God’s children like their routines. We’re all in different kinds of ruts. Hopefully, we’ll each find that God is waiting for us when we reach the end of our rut.
