Back to the Basics

It’s fall. That time of year when we put our bathing suits away and pull out our brief cases instead. It’s back to work. Back to school. Back to the routine. Back to the basics.

I recently started a new journal. It’s my third this calendar year. I normally don’t journal this much, but it’s been an incredibly full year so far with lots to process in prayer. Before I begin a new journal I scan the previous one. It was such fun to recount the events of the past handful of months. Wow, God has been very good.

But, as I open a new journal, and after I fill up the first few pages with notes that capture my overall spiritual priorities, I’m struck once more by some of the extra sheets that get transferred to the back of the journal and travel with me into this new season. One of the sheets: my personal rule of life.

I wrote a book about rule of life; it’s called Crafting A Rule of Life. We developed an interactive website for the book, known as www.RuleOfLife.com As I transfer my personal rule of life into the back of my new journal, I’m reminded of what I believe to be true about my life with God. I love my rule of life. It kind of “defines me” and “directs me” and “protects me” – you might say it “basics me.”

Why? Because my rule of life is what takes me back to the basics. When the complexities of life pull me all different directions, my rule of life keeps me grounded. More solid. More connected. More God-focused. More others-sensitive. More self-aware. More of who God made me to be.

Is it time for you to get back to the basics? Do you know what and who and when and where and why you are who you are in the sight and purposes and childhood of God? Let me invite you to consider hopping off the treadmill of the over-the-edge, sometimes out-of-control, activity-of-life and into a more grounded, focused, and intentional way of being…more like the person God made you to be.

Back to the basics. It’s worked for millennia. It can work for you too. www.RuleOfLife.com

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Steve Macchia

Founder & President

Steve is a graduate of Northwestern College (IA) and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (M.Div. and D.Min.). His prior ministry includes serving on the pastoral staff at Grace Chapel (Lexington, MA) and as president of Vision New England. Since July 1, 2003 Steve has served as founder and president of Leadership Transformations, director of the Pierce Center for Disciple-Building, and adjunct faculty in the Doctor of Ministry department at Gordon-Conwell. He is the author of sixteen books, including The Discerning Life (Zondervan Reflective),  Baker bestseller Becoming a Healthy Church, and Crafting a Rule of Life (IVP). He lives in the Boston area with his wife Ruth and is the proud father of two grown children, Rebekah and Nathan, daughter in-love Ashley, and papa to his beloved granddaughter, Brenna Lynn and twin grandsons, Aiden Joseph and Carson Stephen. “My soul comes alive singing the great hymns of the church and enjoying the beauty of God’s creation. I’m in awe of God for fulfilling the dream for LTI that he birthed in my heart, for the team he has assembled, and the transformational impact experienced in the leaders and teams we serve.

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