July 15, 2018

The office door where I see clients at Eastwood is usually left open for me. My secretary was gone this past Tuesday and the fill in person locked everything up. I have a key to a back way into the office, but I never remember which one it is. To solve that, I marked the key with a color code.

I figured out I do that quite a bit. I have a number of keys color coded. I don’t know which one is which. I may have a flaw in my system.

I selected the green key and tried the lock. I tried it again, and again. I might have been there all night because that key didn’t work. It wasn’t until I abandoned the green key and went with the red key that I gained entry.

Now, I didn’t take the green key off and throw it away. I know it fits another of my seldom used locks. It wasn’t worthless, it just didn’t work in the specific circumstances I was in at the time. Keys are like that.

It can be hard to make changes. Sometimes it is the frustration of unfamiliarity. Sometimes we miss the comfort of the old way. But, if we want access, change can be necessary.

Spiritual growth is the same way. If you’ve been doing exactly the same kinds of prayers, meditations, reflections, readings and you have hit a spiritual block, it can be time to change the key. Perhaps you should add fasting, accountability to others, or solitude to your spirit life. Change can be helpful when we are attempting to deepen what we’ve been doing.

This doesn’t mean that you stop praying, or meditation or reading devotionals, they work for some things, but you might want to add other things, new ways to engage God. Just as my green key works for a different door, old things work in their place.

What doesn’t work is trying more of the same. You haven’t run out of options when you read your chapter in the Bible in the morning and say your prayer of thanksgiving. If that was your only effort, it is as ineffective as me using that green key over and over in the wrong lock.

You might want to add some sacrifice to your routine. Perhaps you could look for a way to do a service to others that can never be repaid to you. There are many ways to move closer to God by taking care of others in need.

I am suggesting that you embrace some new change in your spiritual disciplines this week. What can it hurt?