At CVM we are focused on sharing the good news of Jesus to as many men as we can.
So, in light of that, I decided to put together a three blog series to help us stay in the fight and keep Jesus front and centre during lockdown. This is number 2.
I was looking at a few bits online recently about routines and structure for soldiers in WW1 trench warfare, here is a basic outline you might find interesting.
- 5am ‘Stand-to’ (short for ‘Stand-to-Arms’, meaning to be on high-alert for enemy attack) half an hour before daylight
- 5.30am Rum ration
- 6am Stand-down half an hour after daylight
- 7am Breakfast (usually bacon and tea)
- After 8am Clean selves and weapons, tidy trench
- Noon Dinner
- After dinner Sleep and downtime
- 5pm Tea
- 6pm Stand-to half an hour before dusk
- 6.30pm Stand-down half an hour after dusk
- 6.30pm onwards Work all night with some time for rest (patrols, digging trenches, putting up barbed wire, getting stores)
Now, I’m not comparing my routines at home in lockdown to the brutal realities of war for many of our great grandfathers, but what makes the British Military one of the best in the world, I think, is routine.
One of the things we do here at Casa el Blackaby in lockdown 3.0 is try and have a good day plan, a solid routine. It normally works around a few core ingredients; home-schooling lessons, jobs in the home, walk the dog x2, exercise outside or a walk, free time and eating.
That’s basically it, but having a plan to your day, every day is required. I believe it will not only help your mental and emotional wellbeing, but that it will impact your spiritual life too.
Plan time into your day to pray, worship, and read the bible. If you’re working from home, set your alarm, get up. Don’t wear jogging bottoms at home, get dressed for work. Don’t eat or drink stuff you wouldn’t normally during the day. Keep the rhythm and the stick to the plan. You might feel that is too prescriptive, no problem. But as Mohammad Ali once said ‘I’ve done something new for this fight.’ Maybe to keep yourself Jesus on focussed in lockdown 3.0, you need to do something new for this fight.
Image Credit: Glen Carrie
