Like routines, rituals happen over and over again. Routines keep us grounded and productive. Rituals keep us connected and centered.
Rituals engage our bodies so our minds and hearts can open up to something beyond the mundane everyday tasks of doing the dishes, paying the bills, and figuring out what to have for dinner. Rituals don’t need to be elaborate. They do need quality of attention and an openness to the sacred. A ritual can be as simple as taking your favorite mug out of the kitchen cupboard to enjoy a cup of tea.
Routines help us order our days, weeks, and years. Routines can include brushing our teeth after breakfast every morning, planning out meals for the week each Sunday, or celebrating our birthdays with the same kind of cake each year. Ritual is there to remind us of who we are, of what matters to us, and of the God who lovingly made us.
This message is an excerpt from “Rituals and routines” by Jordan Miller-Stubbendick in the September 2020 issue of Gather magazine.
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