
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.”
Cultivating the Heart: The 4 Practices
As I wrote in a previous blog post, I personally find it challenging to cultivate the heart—growing my emotional wellbeing and relationships. As part of the greatest commandment, Christ encourages us to love God with all our hearts (see Mark 12:30). Our emotions and our relationships…
Good Enough for Today
Over the years, I've had to overcome having a tendency towards perfection. I probably acquired this tendency from my schooling days—personally having an internal drive to ace every exam or paper. Of course, I didn't ace every test. But I certainly tried my darndest to. Surprisingly, it…
Cultivating the Heart
I'm not much of a fan of hugging. I used to be part of a church where people hugged all the time. Honestly, it could get a little bit annoying but I eventually got used to it. I was known as the person who didn't like hugs (a reputation I didn't mind having!). And if…
Pray for Anything and Everything
Is anything too small or seemingly too silly to pray for? I sometimes mistakenly think that I should only pray for the major things in life. Things like a final exam or a medical appointment or a job interview or a big project. There are countless small things that seem silly to me to pray about such as…
Adding Margins in My Schedule
I used to like seeing that I had a packed schedule every day on my calendar. Back-to-back meetings. Events. Phone calls. I liked always being "on the go." It made me feel important and productive. But it also stressed me out. I would have so many things going on that…
Give Yourself Some Grace
I woke up unusually late today at around 7:30 AM. Normally, I wake up around 5 AM so that I can get a head start on my day with exercise, prayer, and reading. It feels great to kick off the day early. But today, I slept right in.
Leaving the Results of Evangelism to God
Several weeks ago, I presented a workshop on evangelism (sharing the gospel) to a group of students. I shared plenty of stories about my attempts to share Jesus with people who work at a local coffee shop I go to. One of the students asked an astute question…
Begin Again
We're going to make mistakes in life. In fact, we're going to make a lot of them. Nobody is going to go through life perfectly (the only person who ever lived a perfect life was Jesus). We should accept this fact early on so that we're not misled into thinking that our growth as humans and as followers of Christ is going to be perfect and without faults.
Consider the Day Ahead
Every morning, after my exercise routine, I take some time to think and journal. The first thing I usually think about is the day that's ahead of me. I can have some very busy days. It's a worthwhile exercise to consider what the day will look like, take stalk of it, and prepare for what's to come. I try to imagine the…
Exercising First Thing in the Morning
For several months now, I've been starting my day with exercise (a mix of cardio-vascular workouts and strength training). Regular exercise is a way for me to take care of my body so that I can serve God with it well. Exercise is the first thing I do when I wake up. In the past, I tried…