The smoothie won’t save you.

(It sounds ridiculous, but stay with me.)

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I have a morning routine.

I have a routine for spending time with God.

I have standard questions I ask my closest friends.

I check in on my goals a few times a week.

I’m trying to eat more protein.

My morning water has a scoop of creatine, an electrolyte supplement, and fiber powder.

I am a woman who likes a plan and feels at home in my rhythms.

I want to move into life intentionally and cultivate what I’ve been given to steward.

But sometimes, I look around and sense that many of us, myself included, are making life more complicated than it should be.

We feel so much pressure to grow and steward what we’ve been given that we’re just immensely hard on ourselves and everyone else.

And I wonder: Did Jesus die for us to be trying so hard to keep it all together?

At our church, we take communion every week. And often, because we know our people, Nick and I will remind them before communion that this act is how we remind our souls that HIS BODY and HIS BLOOD purchased our freedom, nothing else.

And sometimes, we’ll even highlight a few areas that we know our people (starting with ourselves) sometimes confuse for our saviors: our routines, habits, good decisions, and tenacious persistence.

I don’t think any of us believe that our smoothies will save us.
But, our formal and functional beliefs often differ.

And so we live like everything depends on how faithful, fruitful, and efficient we are.

This week, we’ll start Lent, and I’m thrilled to be leading a Dwell Devotional Study (Dwell is my absolute favorite app for Bible Study).

But I thought maybe you and I could kick off Lent together by asking:

• Are we making life more complex than it should be?

• Are we basking in the audacious freedom of grace?

• Are we falsely believing that righteousness is something we can purchase through our good decisions?
  
  And how, in the name of Jesus, can we throw some pressure off and walk in liberty?
  
  I have some thoughts and can’t wait to share them this month.
  
  Grace and peace to you,
  Jess