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.”
The Prayer of Abraham’s Servant
The other day, I was reading the Bible story of Abraham sending his most trusted servant to find a wife for his son, Isaac. It's an interesting story with plenty of insights and lessons. What caught my attention this time around was the prayerful posture of this unnamed servant who…
Ora et Labora
People are usually a little astounded and their curiosity is piqued when I mention that I spend anywhere from 3-4 hours per day communing with the Lord in prayer. I know a lot of believers who also have this desire to spend ample and appropriate amounts of time with the Lord each and every day. I hear it from…
God’s Timing
God's timing is always right. We believe this—on an intellectual and theological level at least. We know that God is the wisest person out there. We believe that He sees and knows everything. He's well aware of…
Blessed are Those who Die in the Lord
Like most people, I don't like talking about death. I don't even like thinking about it. But here I am writing about it. Although physical death is the inevitable conclusion for all those who live on earth (unless Christ returns), we don't like…
Spirituality in Community
In this blog, I write quite a bit about growing a relationship with Christ that is personal to each of us. Each of us is ultimately responsible for our own spiritual development. We can't…
Falling Asleep While Praying
It might be a bit strange to admit this: I've occasionally fallen asleep while in the middle of prayer and meditation. In fact, my wife has caught me dozing off a number of times when I'm supposed to be reflecting or meditating (I never admit it to her though!). It's embarrassing to…
God’s Word Changes Us
There's an elderly woman who lives relatively close to where I do. Because of her age and health condition, she remains completely bed-ridden pretty much all day. Once a week, I visit her and…
Reconcile and Relate
Many of us have an internal desire to help other people, should it be within our capacity to do so. Helping others is one way for us to imitate our Lord Jesus who "came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Matt. 20:28 ESV). Serving others sacrificially was…
Memorizing Scripture
I have a pretty bad memory. At least, that's what my wife says. Maybe she's right. But for several months now, I've been memorizing multiple Scripture verses each week. So far, I've managed to memorize over 170 verses of the Bible.
Getting Proper Amounts of Rest
Our physical bodies are valuable gifts given to us by God. It is through our bodies that we interact with our world. It is through our bodies that we relate to other people. It is through our bodies that we work and play. It is…