Ancient Christian Wisdom
for Everyday Life
Wisdom for those with the wild ambition of getting as close to Jesus as they can on earth and living the kind of life that God desires every single day
Welcome to the Daily Monastic. I’m Barnabas the Monastic.
I have a wild ambition in life: get as close to the Lord Jesus Christ as I can while on earth. I attempt to do that by learning to become a modern monastic. I explore and integrate ancient Christian monk wisdom in my modern everyday life. I write about it here. Feel free to write to me about your own journey. I currently reside in the “Great White North.”
Respect and Reverence
Do we give God the proper respect and reverence that is due to Him every day? Throughout the day, it's quite easy to neglect God's presence in our lives. It's quite easy to forget who it is we speak to when we go into prayer. It's quite easy to...
Wandering Thoughts
My mind wanders a lot. I've accepted this as a fact of life for me. It's how God created me to be. It's advantageous in some sense because I'm constantly processing things in my mind. It helps me think through...
Consistency versus Intensity
When acquiring any habit in life, being consistent at the beginning is much more important than being intense. If you think about it, anybody can be intense for a day. Anybody can have one intense workout. Or one intense writing session. Or one intense workday. Or one intense...
The Example of King Saul
I had a friend who once told me that her favorite character in the Bible was King Saul. I thought that was an odd choice at first. Saul doesn't exactly have the best of reputations. In fact, his kingship and life ended quite tragically. I've never heard anyone choose Saul as their favorite Bible hero. But her reasoning...
Confident at Christ’s Coming
Jesus can come back at any time. In fact, he can return right now as I'm typing this sentence. Or as you're reading this blog post. Jesus proclaimed His return in several passages in the gospels. In the gospel of Luke, He said...
Eliminating TV
We don't own a TV. In fact, I haven't watched television in 8 years—maybe longer. One afternoon, we had friends over for lunch and their 5-year-old son was running around our home screaming in his tiny voice, "Where's the TV?!" He was baffled at the fact that we don't own one.
Cultivating the Heart: The Practice of Serving
Over the past several blog entries, I've been writing about cultivating the heart—our emotional wellbeing and relationships—through the practices of slowing down, stopping, and savoring. I offer a fourth and final practice that I incorporate into my life to help grow my heart: The Practice of Serving.
Cultivating the Heart: The Practice of Savoring
I'm a fairly serious person with serious goals, serious ambitions, and a serious work ethic. It's served me well for many things in life. I do like to get things done. But I also need to learn to enjoy life a little bit more. Life isn't just about getting things done. It's also about enjoying the various moments that come my way.
Cultivating the Heart: The Practice of Stopping
We can't and shouldn't always be on the move. As human beings, we need to take breaks. We need to rest. We need to stop. If we don't stop and get appropriate rest, negative consequences will eventually occur to…
Cultivating the Heart: The Practice of Slowing Down
We live in a fast-paced world that emphasizes "getting things done." And getting as many things done as quickly and as efficiently as possible. This has led to some amazing advancements in technology, medicine, art, sports, entertainment, etc. It has brought us the many…