Living a Routine Life

[ForeverYours]

hello all,
I've been feeling a bit down because life just seems so routinely. I can't break out of this routine because i have certaiin responsibilities that i need to tend to everyday.
with such a routine life, i feel empty at the end of the day. and with this emptiness, i tend to gravitate towards distractions, like facebook, food, tv
these things aren't necessarily bad, but to me, they steer me away from God, basically distractions

how can i live a fulfilling life?

[Copticandproud]

You can make a http://www.verseoftheday.com/ your home website so everytime you open your browser you will have a new verse. Do not just read it, but also memorize it and contemplate on it the whole day. I think that will help. May the lord be with you....

[ForeverYours]

You can make a http://www.verseoftheday.com/ your home website so everytime you open your browser you will have a new verse. Do not just read it, but also memorize it and contemplate on it the whole day. I think that will help. May the lord be with you....

Thanks, i visited the website. looks good..
i hope it works

[Timothym]

hello all,
I've been feeling a bit down because life just seems so routinely. I can't break out of this routine because i have certaiin responsibilities that i need to tend to everyday.
with such a routine life, i feel empty at the end of the day. and with this emptiness, i tend to gravitate towards distractions, like facebook, food, tv
these things aren't necessarily bad, but to me, they steer me away from God, basically distractions

how can i live a fulfilling life?

If you find that you are a social person (which most people are to some degree), try to do things with others. God didn't create us each isolated on an island. We were meant to be in a community as an image of how the Holy Trinity though one God is also 3 Persons who are so close to one another that they are One.

Try volunteering at a food bank, go visit some elderly people stuck in their homes, go to the gym a few times a week, make time for friends: invite them to your home for coffee or a movie. After a while you'll find that life isn't so bad after all

[JG]

Don't let yourself be drowned in this emptiness, but reach out to God who is the only one who can truly fill that void you feel. Don't try to fill the hole with more holes: useless things that give us short term gratification but in the end lead us to hunger again.

"A satisfied soul loathes the honeycomb,
But to a hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet." (Proverbs 27:7)

If you pray with fervor and ask God to stand beside you, you will be truly satisfied, and you won't have to "gravitate towards distractions." You will feel that life has meaning once more.

Feel God's presence when you stand up to pray. Say "Lord I am an empty vessel, fill me with your love so that I can share it with others." Ask him and you will receive, for he "gives to all liberally and without reproach" (James 1:5). Stay close to him, then it will be you who others will see when they feel empty and alone, and they will see God's image in your everyday life. 

[qawe]

If you find that you are a social person (which most people are to some degree), try to do things with others. God didn't create us each isolated on an island. We were meant to be in a community as an image of how the Holy Trinity though one God is also 3 Persons who are so close to one another that they are One.

I don't think this is very theologically accurate as it implies that they aren't actually one, but only soo close that they can be considered so.
Otherwise great post!

[ForeverYours]

If you find that you are a social person (which most people are to some degree), try to do things with others. God didn't create us each isolated on an island. We were meant to be in a community as an image of how the Holy Trinity though one God is also 3 Persons who are so close to one another that they are One.

Try volunteering at a food bank, go visit some elderly people stuck in their homes, go to the gym a few times a week, make time for friends: invite them to your home for coffee or a movie. After a while you'll find that life isn't so bad after all

i would absolutely love to do all those things! however, I'm a high school student, i go to a hard school, i have so much work, SATs, etc. There's no breathing space when pressure from school pretty much overrides everything else. Thanks for the advice though,

[ForeverYours]

Don't let yourself be drowned in this emptiness, but reach out to God who is the only one who can truly fill that void you feel. Don't try to fill the hole with more holes: useless things that give us short term gratification but in the end lead us to hunger again.

"A satisfied soul loathes the honeycomb,
But to a hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet." (Proverbs 27:7)

If you pray with fervor and ask God to stand beside you, you will be truly satisfied, and you won't have to "gravitate towards distractions." You will feel that life has meaning once more.

Feel God's presence when you stand up to pray. Say "Lord I am an empty vessel, fill me with your love so that I can share it with others." Ask him and you will receive, for he "gives to all liberally and without reproach" (James 1:5). Stay close to him, then it will be you who others will see when they feel empty and alone, and they will see God's image in your everyday life. 

JG, what a relevant proverb! it summarrizes my problems. but i just can't seem to have a true heartfelt time with God. perhaps it's my fault for wasting time on other things. i would love for each day of my life to be different, for each day to have a purpose

[Father Peter]

The purpose of each day is to live in the presence of God. The constant remembrance of God by the invocation of the holy name of our Lord Jesus Christ transforms each moment and becomes as necessary and refreshing as breath itself.

[Timothym]

If you find that you are a social person (which most people are to some degree), try to do things with others. God didn't create us each isolated on an island. We were meant to be in a community as an image of how the Holy Trinity though one God is also 3 Persons who are so close to one another that they are One.

I don't think this is very theologically accurate as it implies that they aren't actually one, but only soo close that they can be considered so.
Otherwise great post!

ya of course its not 100%...sorry about that. I didn't wanna get into hypostasis and create a whole other discussion I was trying to simplify the unsimplifiable.

[So Minute, So Lonely, So Blue, So Upset; Unable to Hold On!]

You can always break the routine. Just run away in the forest with nothing and live off what God gives you. Like extreme monasticm but in the western world. Find a cave and live in it.

[JG]

JG, what a relevant proverb! it summarrizes my problems. but i just can't seem to have a true heartfelt time with God. perhaps it's my fault for wasting time on other things. i would love for each day of my life to be different, for each day to have a purpose

Every little moment you spend in prayer counts. Even if you only stand for a few short minutes praying from your heart, God will hear you.

Try to wake up a little earlier than you normally do, and pray the First Hour of the Agpeya. If you haven't got the time to pray all of the psalms, just pray the first one, or as many as you feel you can. Read the words slowly, really concentrating on what they mean and how it applies in your life, so that they are no longer just the words written by the Psalmist, but YOUR words coming from the heart.

Praying in the morning will really help you to begin the day with your focus on God, and will help you to remember the way you should be thinking and acting at every moment of the day.

[mabsoota]

some great posts.
but i think we can safely assume khas is joking!
no one should just go and live in the forest! (it's called suicide)

[returnorthodoxy]

some great posts.
but i think we can safely assume khas is joking!
no one should just go and live in the forest! (it's called suicide)

St. Antony ran away into the desert. St. Mary of Egypt, St. Paul the Hermit, St. Karas the Anchorite... Suicide? Im not advocating it, but God would definitely take care of them.

ReturnOrthodoxy

[emidesu]

If you find that you are a social person (which most people are to some degree), try to do things with others. God didn't create us each isolated on an island. We were meant to be in a community as an image of how the Holy Trinity though one God is also 3 Persons who are so close to one another that they are One.

Try volunteering at a food bank, go visit some elderly people stuck in their homes, go to the gym a few times a week, make time for friends: invite them to your home for coffee or a movie. After a while you'll find that life isn't so bad after all

i would absolutely love to do all those things! however, I'm a high school student, i go to a hard school, i have so much work, SATs, etc. There's no breathing space when pressure from school pretty much overrides everything else. Thanks for the advice though,

God wants you to do His work in the world not only later when you have a career and/or family but now. What you are doing may not seem important but you are able to show love and to be a good witness. And routine is an advantage in some ways- some of us have circumstances that cause our schedules to change constantly which makes it hard to establish good prayer routines. If you really set these habits now you will have it easier when you go out into the world where there are many more distractions and temptations.

Pray for me, a sinner...