Fr Robert Hendrickson

Dear Friends in Christ,

I’ve found myself slipping a bit lately. It has to do with diet. I confess that I have eaten a little more often than I did last year. I’m not really trying to lose weight anymore but I’m also not trying to gain it back. 

So my thinking has moved on from crisis mode to more of a maintenance mode. My attention has drifted a bit from a kind of laser-like focus on the challenge I had, and I’ve gotten a little lax in my habits. 

It’s not unlike the spiritual life. Sometimes, especially in times of crisis, we find our attention fixed on a need for and reliance on God. We might pray a little more, go to church a little more often, pick up scripture for comfort, or find some other way of connecting with God. 

Like a diet, when January 1 always seems a time to start, the religious life has some natural jump-start periods. Right around Christmas for some. Easter for others. But that zeal rarely lasts at full intensity. The number of empty elliptical machines in March at the gym is a bit of evidence. 

We don’t need to be running at full speed 100% of the time. In fact our bodies would break down if we did. But we do need some awareness of when we’ve drifted a bit too far or let things go a little too long. We need some periodic reminders to pick the Bible back up or to be a little more regular in our prayers. 

Those gentle reminders we might give ourselves or those we love are how we avoid the crash diets. They are how we know where to turn even when it seems like we might be lost. So this summer I encourage you to take a devotional book with you on vacation. Set aside a few minutes in the morning to pray. 

Let’s do some of those little things together so we can catch one another if we seem to slip a bit. Let’s keep up with the spiritual tune-ups so we can avoid the big bills that come with the spiritual repair shop!

Yours in Christ,

—Fr Robert