29 & 30 Mar 2025 (Pastoral Page) REFLECTIONS ON HABITS, RULE, TO LOVE OF GOD

By Asst Ps Elaine Ng

As I was still contemplating and praying about what I would write for this pastoral page, I shared with a very wise mentor and friend on our monthly walk that I had in mind to write about spiritual disciplines or habits. This was towards the tail end of our walk where we had shared with each other thoughts about the current Lent series and what we were gleaning, what I notice God has been bringing to my attention through readings for my BGST assignment and personal readings and life in general since our last meeting. The thought about writing about habits or practices came about mainly because of something I was learning about Christian discernment. In his book, Wisdom Road – Making decisions in company with God, Viv Taylor likens it to a most precious gift that “can’t be bought like a car or a bag of peas. However, it can be cultivated”.

My original thought, following that reading, was to write about why we need to form good spiritual habits and to encourage how we could do so for after all, we have been learning about spiritual practices of the different traditions and how they cultivate love of God, being holy as He is holy, walking and being continually filled with the Spirit. However, as we continued our conversation, it changed the trajectory of my thoughts for this page.

Indeed, we did discuss a spiritual practice. The rule of life cultivates enjoying God and practising the presence of God in our busy everyday life. It is an ancient tradition developed by monastic communities handed down through the ages to develop habits and rules in all aspect of one’s life to help you grow your relationship with God. “If you abide in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit” (John 15:15). The vine needs a trellis to support its growth for it to bear fruit. The rule of life is about discovering how to create space to be with Jesus and practice a life-giving, sustainable rhythm amid a demanding life to become like Him and do as He did. It’s about saying no to certain things to say yes to others around what matters most - God. For more on this, you may wish to read “God in my everything” by Ken Shigematsu or “Practising the Way” by John Mark Comer. The former, I would like to re-read and the latter, I am still reading.

We all know the saying “practise makes perfect” and if we desire to become more like Jesus, then we must practise what we hear (Matthew 7:24) and to do that, we may have to cultivate or practise some spiritual habits e.g. meditating on the Word or silence or solitude, to help us listen and be attentive to the Spirit. But what if we do not enjoy whatever we are doing? Would we then be like a kid forced to learn a musical instrument, practising becomes a joyless, dutiful obligation done grudgingly, if at all. For those of us who have experienced parenthood or guardianship, don’t we love it when our children are self-motivated to learn a new skill or do their homework without us berating them or having to sit by their side? Or for those in the workplace, have you witnessed colleagues going through the motion and waiting for the end of the workday to come quickly? If you are an employer, is it not a joy to have employees who willingly take on more or carry another colleague’s load over and above their own responsibilities? If we love the object or subject matter, we will want to pursue it, get better at it, do more, sometimes at all cost or expense of other things.

We all love something. The question is what or who is it that we love? We become like what or who we love and ultimately, we are what we love. This Lent season, we have been on a journey of discovery of Christ through the different Christian streams - how each stream stems from the life of Christ and thus, when practised wisely, can help us grow in Christlikeness. As we enjoyed communing with God and each other during our walk, my wise mentor suggested that perhaps the habit we need to first form or re-discover is to practise experiencing or basking in the love of God, to know and savour how much we are loved by Him despite and in spite of who we are, or anything we have to offer in service or spiritual practices. To delight and enjoy being with Him. For God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him (John Piper). May we experience Christ and desire more of Him in our lives!