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3 Habits to Complete Your Fall Reset · Honoring My Temple

0:08
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Honoring My Temple podcast.
0:10
SPEAKER_00: If you're looking to put God at the center of your life and live that out practically through your health, habits, and everyday choices, this podcast is for you.
0:20
SPEAKER_00: I'm Kelly Wenner, founder of Soul Strength Fit and author of Honoring My Temple.
0:24
SPEAKER_00: Here we explore biblical wisdom and how to apply it to real life, your mindset, food, exercise, and the habits that shape who you're becoming.
0:34
SPEAKER_00: Let's get started.
0:40
SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to Honoring My Temple.
0:42
SPEAKER_00: Today I want to get back to and wrap up our series on my fall reset.
0:47
SPEAKER_00: Previously, we talked about the four daily habits I'm recommitting to.
0:52
SPEAKER_00: Daily exercise, focusing on eating God-given foods, daily time in the Word and in prayer, and a daily commitment to gratitude.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: Be sure to go back and catch those episodes if you miss them.
1:06
SPEAKER_00: And now in this episode and the previous one, we're focusing on the weekly habits I'm intentionally bringing back into my schedule.
1:14
SPEAKER_00: I know that focusing on these eight habits will shape my life.
1:18
SPEAKER_00: And they'll shape the person I'm becoming.
1:21
SPEAKER_00: There are a set of practices that help guard my habits and guide my life.
1:26
SPEAKER_00: Because living intentionally requires that I continually ask myself, what habits and practices do I want to define my life?
1:35
SPEAKER_00: And what habits or distractions do I want to keep from becoming part of it?
1:41
SPEAKER_00: Committing to these habits helps me to answer those questions and actually live by those answers rather than allowing the things I say matter to fall by the wayside, or leaving it to chance whether I'll get to them or not.
1:54
SPEAKER_00: And what I love about these eight habits is that together, they touch almost every area of my well-being.
2:01
SPEAKER_00: Spiritually, emotionally, and physically.
2:05
SPEAKER_00: They're helping me become healthier and more whole while allowing God to continually shape my character to increasingly reflect Him.
2:15
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's an important part of what Jesus meant when he talked about abundant life.
2:22
SPEAKER_00: Not a life that's necessarily abundant in wealth or ease or comfort or pleasure, but a life that is full.
2:31
SPEAKER_00: A life increasingly characterized by love, peace, wisdom, strong relationships, purpose, self-control, health, well-being, and a deep connection with God.
2:45
SPEAKER_00: That's the kind of life I want to be intentional about building.
2:50
SPEAKER_00: And these weekly practices are part of how I'm doing that.
2:54
SPEAKER_00: Last time we talked about the first one, fasting.
2:57
SPEAKER_00: Today we're going to finish with the final three: purposeful growth, time in community and Sabbath.
3:05
SPEAKER_00: The next weekly habit I'm putting back into place is purposeful self-growth.
3:11
SPEAKER_00: And when I say self-growth, I'm not talking about some endless pursuit of self-improvement where we're never satisfied with who we are.
3:19
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about intentionally investing some of my time in ways that help me learn, grow, develop the gifts that God has given me, and keep becoming a wiser, more capable person.
3:33
SPEAKER_00: Because I've learned something about myself that I honestly wouldn't have expected.
3:38
SPEAKER_00: The less I have to do, or at least the less I perceive that I have to do, the less structured I tend to be with my time, and somehow the less I actually get done.
3:49
SPEAKER_00: Think about a normal, busy Monday for me.
3:52
SPEAKER_00: I have meetings on my calendar, I have school pickup at a specific time, I have work that absolutely has to get done.
3:59
SPEAKER_00: There are places I need to be and deadlines I need to meet.
4:03
SPEAKER_00: And because I know my time is limited, I'm diligent with it.
4:06
SPEAKER_00: I'm looking at the clock, I'm thinking ahead.
4:09
SPEAKER_00: I'm deciding what needs to happen and when I'm going to do it.
4:13
SPEAKER_00: Now compare that to some of my summer days.
4:16
SPEAKER_00: There's no school schedule.
4:18
SPEAKER_00: There aren't as many hard stops in my day.
4:19
SPEAKER_00: I'm playing things by ear and responding to whatever comes up next.
4:23
SPEAKER_00: And somehow, with more available time, I accomplished far less.
4:29
SPEAKER_00: And I realized that's definitely no way to approach growth.
4:34
SPEAKER_00: Because growth isn't usually urgent.
4:37
SPEAKER_00: Nobody is going to call me at the end of the week and ask whether I read that book.
4:41
SPEAKER_00: There's no deadline requiring me to learn something new.
4:44
SPEAKER_00: Nobody is making sure I'm developing my talents or pursuing a personal goal that God has put on my heart.
4:50
SPEAKER_00: Those things are important.
4:52
SPEAKER_00: But because they're not really urgent, they're incredibly easy to keep pushing aside.
4:58
SPEAKER_00: And I don't want to do that.
4:59
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to look back five years from now and realize that I'm in essentially the same place, that I'm essentially the same person because I never intentionally made room to grow.
5:13
SPEAKER_00: Scripture repeatedly encourages us to keep learning and growing in wisdom.
5:18
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 1.5 says, let the wise listen and add to their learning.
5:24
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
5:26
SPEAKER_00: Even the wise person is still learning.
5:30
SPEAKER_00: And that's really what purposeful growth means to me.
5:33
SPEAKER_00: I want to keep growing in wisdom.
5:35
SPEAKER_00: I want to understand things that I don't understand today.
5:38
SPEAKER_00: I want to nurture my God-given talents and interests.
5:41
SPEAKER_00: I want to become better equipped for the work that God has given me to do and the people He's given me to serve.
5:49
SPEAKER_00: And just like everything else we've talked about in this fall reset, I can't leave that growth to chance.
5:54
SPEAKER_00: So for me, purposeful self-growth means intentionally setting aside some time each week to invest in it.
6:02
SPEAKER_00: Usually that means reading a book that's going to stretch me or help me grow in some way.
6:07
SPEAKER_00: Or it might mean putting on a podcast where I can learn something new, improve in an area of my life, or hear a different perspective while I'm out on a long walk or a hike.
6:17
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't have to be complicated.
6:19
SPEAKER_00: The point is to intentionally make room for things that help me grow because if I'm not careful, distraction and entertainment will very easily fill that time instead.
6:30
SPEAKER_00: So that's the practice.
6:31
SPEAKER_00: Every week.
6:32
SPEAKER_00: Make some room for purposeful growth.
6:35
SPEAKER_00: Make time to learn, expand your knowledge, grow in wisdom, and invest in the person you're becoming.
6:42
SPEAKER_00: Don't leave your growth to chance.
6:44
SPEAKER_00: Make room for the things that help you grow.
6:46
SPEAKER_00: Rather than allowing every available space to be filled by distraction or entertainment.
6:54
SPEAKER_00: Okay, the next weekly habit that I'm recommitting to this fall is community.
7:00
SPEAKER_00: We were never meant to follow Jesus alone.
7:04
SPEAKER_00: And really, I think almost every meaningful commitment we make is strengthened when we have other people walking alongside us.
7:12
SPEAKER_00: Our faith, our marriages, parenting, our health, the habits we're trying to build, the person we're trying to become.
7:20
SPEAKER_00: We flourish in community.
7:22
SPEAKER_00: There's something powerful about surrounding ourselves with people who share our values and are pursuing some of the same things we're pursuing.
7:30
SPEAKER_00: We encourage each other.
7:32
SPEAKER_00: We hold each other accountable.
7:34
SPEAKER_00: We remind each other of the commitments we've made and we help each other keep going when things get difficult.
7:40
SPEAKER_00: Now, for some people, spending time in community is easy.
7:44
SPEAKER_00: You're naturally more extroverted.
7:46
SPEAKER_00: And being around other people fills your cup.
7:48
SPEAKER_00: Some of us, however, are a little more introverted.
7:51
SPEAKER_00: What fills our cups may look a little different.
7:54
SPEAKER_00: We often find that solitude and time alone are what fill it back up.
7:58
SPEAKER_00: That's me.
7:59
SPEAKER_00: I'm definitely more introverted.
8:01
SPEAKER_00: I lean towards solitude.
8:03
SPEAKER_00: And I've realized that I have to make a purposeful effort to invest in relationships outside of my immediate family.
8:11
SPEAKER_00: And over the summer, that was definitely one of the habits that took a back seat.
8:15
SPEAKER_00: It was actually probably a pretty natural season for that to happen.
8:19
SPEAKER_00: Small group pause for the summer.
8:22
SPEAKER_00: We traveled quite a bit, which made church attendance more erratic.
8:25
SPEAKER_00: Friends had their own travel schedules and family plans.
8:28
SPEAKER_00: And before I knew it, spending meaningful time with people outside of my husband, my kids, and maybe our weekly dinner with my parents had become pretty infrequent.
8:38
SPEAKER_00: And I noticed it.
8:39
SPEAKER_00: I realized I was missing time with people who help me become a better person.
8:45
SPEAKER_00: I have a friend that I've walked through a lot of parenting struggles with.
8:50
SPEAKER_00: Her encouragement, her perspective, her advice, those conversations have helped me through some really difficult seasons.
8:57
SPEAKER_00: And I missed that time together.
8:59
SPEAKER_00: I have another friend that I normally hike with once a week.
9:03
SPEAKER_00: And guess what happened to my hikes when our summer travel schedules made it difficult for us to get together?
9:09
SPEAKER_00: My hikes didn't happen.
9:11
SPEAKER_00: I had a group of women that I could talk about scripture and spiritual growth with, people who asked questions, shared perspectives that I hadn't considered, and helped me think more deeply about what I was learning and how I was actually living it.
9:25
SPEAKER_00: And when we stopped meeting regularly, some of that intentional weekly reflection stopped too.
9:32
SPEAKER_00: And I think that it's important because there are some kinds of growth that are really difficult to experience on our own.
9:41
SPEAKER_00: I can read scripture by myself.
9:43
SPEAKER_00: I can pray by myself.
9:44
SPEAKER_00: I can read a great book by myself, but I can't give myself another person's perspective.
9:49
SPEAKER_00: I can't always see my own blind spots.
9:52
SPEAKER_00: I can't encourage myself in quite the same way that another person can when I'm struggling.
9:57
SPEAKER_00: And I can't experience the kind of accountability that comes from another person knowing what I've committed to and walking alongside me in it.
10:05
SPEAKER_00: Other people bring things into our lives that we simply can't give ourselves.
10:10
SPEAKER_00: That's true of our faith, and it's also true of our health.
10:15
SPEAKER_00: Think about my hiking example.
10:17
SPEAKER_00: I love hiking.
10:18
SPEAKER_00: I know it's good for me.
10:19
SPEAKER_00: I want to do it.
10:21
SPEAKER_00: And yet when my friend and I stopped putting it on the calendar and doing it together, somehow it stopped happening.
10:27
SPEAKER_00: That's the power of accountability and shared commitment.
10:30
SPEAKER_00: When someone's expecting us to show up, encouraging us, working towards something alongside us, or simply asking how it's going.
10:37
SPEAKER_00: It can become so much easier to follow through on the things that we've already decided we want to do.
10:43
SPEAKER_00: And I've seen this over and over again in my program, Soul Strength Fit.
10:49
SPEAKER_00: And that's why I've wanted there to be ways to do my program with other people.
10:55
SPEAKER_00: And you can.
10:56
SPEAKER_00: You can work with me one-on-one through coaching where we look at your goals, your challenges, your habits, and create a plan to help you move forward.
11:04
SPEAKER_00: Or you can go through the program with a friend, a small group, or your women's ministry at church.
11:11
SPEAKER_00: And I've seen what a difference it can make when women aren't simply trying to do this alone.
11:17
SPEAKER_00: When they have someone to encourage them, pray with them, check in with them, and keep showing up alongside them.
11:24
SPEAKER_00: So as we're stepping into fall with summer behind us and the holidays just ahead of us, this is such a good time to make that commitment.
11:33
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you grab a friend and decide you're going to get healthy together.
11:37
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you invite a few women from church to go through the foundational eight-week program with you.
11:43
SPEAKER_00: Maybe your women's ministry decides to use the program and host a faith and fitness small group this fall.
11:50
SPEAKER_00: I'll put a link in the show notes where you can learn more about using Soul Strength Fit with a friend, your small group or women's ministry.
11:58
SPEAKER_00: And if you know that what you really need is more personalized support, that one-on-one support so that you can identify what's keeping you stuck or build a plan around your specific goals, I'll put the link for my one-on-one coaching there as well.
12:12
SPEAKER_00: But whether or not you do either of those things, I want you to think about community as part of your own fall reset.
12:20
SPEAKER_00: Who are the people who make your life better?
12:24
SPEAKER_00: Who encourages your faith?
12:26
SPEAKER_00: Who gives you wise perspective?
12:27
SPEAKER_00: Who challenges you?
12:29
SPEAKER_00: Who makes you more likely to follow through on the things you say matter?
12:33
SPEAKER_00: And then don't just be grateful for those people.
12:36
SPEAKER_00: Make time for them.
12:38
SPEAKER_00: For me, that means recommitting to Sundays at church and to small group.
12:43
SPEAKER_00: It means getting my weekly hikes back on the calendar.
12:46
SPEAKER_00: It means making time to get together with those friends who bring so much wisdom and encouragement and perspective into my life.
12:53
SPEAKER_00: Because I've learned that if I don't intentionally make room for community, it's very easy for me to retreat into what's comfortable and convenient.
13:03
SPEAKER_00: So this fall, I am putting community back on the calendar.
13:08
SPEAKER_00: All right, and that brings us to the final weekly practice in my fall reset, Sabbath.
13:15
SPEAKER_00: Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
13:17
SPEAKER_00: Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but on the seventh day is Sabbath to the Lord your God.
13:24
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to spend a lot of time here talking about Sabbath simply because God commanded it.
13:30
SPEAKER_00: What I want to do is think about why God gives us commands and instructions in the first place, because God's commands and instructions are given for our good.
13:41
SPEAKER_00: They're meant to bring blessing and benefit to our lives.
13:45
SPEAKER_00: Think about it, he tells us to worship him alone because he wants us to experience the deep, intimate relationship with him that we were created for.
14:31
SPEAKER_00: God's instructions aren't arbitrary restrictions, they're invitations into the kind of life that He knows is good for us.
14:41
SPEAKER_00: And Sabbath is no different.
14:44
SPEAKER_00: And I think Sabbath is one of those things that's easy to overlook.
14:49
SPEAKER_00: We know it's important, but unless we intentionally make space for it, the rest of life has a way of filling the space.
14:56
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
15:01
SPEAKER_00: It's a gift that we're given because we need it.
15:05
SPEAKER_00: God wants us to experience the beauty and the blessing of rest.
15:10
SPEAKER_00: But Sabbath isn't simply about finding moments to relax throughout the week.
15:14
SPEAKER_00: It's part of a pattern that God gives us.
15:18
SPEAKER_00: Purposeful work followed by purposeful rest.
15:23
SPEAKER_00: Six days of work followed by a day set apart to stop, worship, connect, and be renewed.
15:31
SPEAKER_00: And I've noticed in my own life that when I lose that pattern of purposeful work and purposeful rest, I don't function as well.
15:42
SPEAKER_00: I think there's an important distinction.
15:46
SPEAKER_00: We can have plenty of downtime in our lives without actually experiencing the kind of rest that restores us.
15:55
SPEAKER_00: We can watch TV, we can scroll our phones, we can sit on the couch, we can spend an entire evening doing absolutely nothing productive and still go to bed feeling depleted.
16:07
SPEAKER_00: Because Sabbath isn't simply about stopping work, it's about stepping outside of the noise, the distractions, the busyness, and intentionally making space for the things that restore our souls.
16:20
SPEAKER_00: Time with God, worship, relationships, nature, quiet, gratitude, and simply being present.
16:28
SPEAKER_00: And I noticed in my own life that when I lose that pattern of purposeful work followed by purposeful rest, I don't just become more tired.
16:38
SPEAKER_00: I start to see it in the way I live.
16:40
SPEAKER_00: First I become more irritable.
16:42
SPEAKER_00: When I'm depleted, my patience gets shorter.
16:46
SPEAKER_00: Little things frustrate me more than they should.
16:49
SPEAKER_00: And unfortunately, the people most likely to experience that aren't strangers.
16:52
SPEAKER_00: They're usually the people closest to me, my husband, my kids, my family.
16:57
SPEAKER_00: Second, I become more reactive and less intentional.
17:01
SPEAKER_00: Instead of using my time according to what I've already decided matters, I get pulled into whatever is right in front of me the text, the email, the task, the distraction.
17:10
SPEAKER_00: I can feel incredibly busy and yet still feel like I don't have time for the things that I care about most.
17:19
SPEAKER_00: And when that happens for long enough, I start putting off the things that actually nourish me.
17:26
SPEAKER_00: Exercise gets pushed aside, preparing healthy foods feels like too much work.
17:31
SPEAKER_00: Prayer and scripture become harder to prioritize.
17:35
SPEAKER_00: Even the things I genuinely want to do, learning, spending time with friends, pursuing a goal, keep getting pushed to another day.
17:42
SPEAKER_00: And third, I become more likely to reach for easy forms of escape.
17:48
SPEAKER_00: When I'm depleted, I naturally gravitate toward whatever requires the least of me.
17:55
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's television, maybe it's scrolling, social media, maybe it's food.
17:59
SPEAKER_00: And there's nothing inherently wrong with any of those things, but there's a difference between enjoying something and continually using it to escape because you're too depleted to not only engage with life, but pursue the life that you want to pursue.
18:16
SPEAKER_00: And that's what I mean when I say that Sabbath is more than simply having some downtime.
18:21
SPEAKER_00: I need time that actually replenishes me, time that reconnects me with God and the people I love, time that allows me to step away from productivity and simply be present.
18:30
SPEAKER_00: That's the kind of rest I'm talking about when I talk about Sabbath.
18:34
SPEAKER_00: And there's another picture of this in Exodus I find really interesting.
18:38
SPEAKER_00: When the Israelites were in the wilderness and God was providing manna for them, they gathered what they needed for each day, but we know that on the sixth day, God instructed them to gather twice as much, because on the seventh day they weren't going to go out and gather.
18:53
SPEAKER_00: God built preparation into the practice of Sabbath.
18:59
SPEAKER_00: And that really connects with something that I noticed in my own life.
19:03
SPEAKER_00: Sabbath requires preparation.
19:06
SPEAKER_00: This summer I actually found it harder to create space for Sabbath.
19:10
SPEAKER_00: And at first that sounds strange because theoretically I had more freedom in my schedule.
19:14
SPEAKER_00: But I think that's actually part of the lesson I've been learning throughout this fall reset.
19:18
SPEAKER_00: My days weren't structured.
19:20
SPEAKER_00: My normal rhythms disappeared.
19:22
SPEAKER_00: I was playing more things by ear.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: I was easily distracted.
19:26
SPEAKER_00: And honestly, I wasn't always as productive during the other six days as I could have been.
19:31
SPEAKER_00: Not even close.
19:32
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not saying that spending more time with my family over the summer was unproductive.
19:36
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely not.
19:37
SPEAKER_00: That mattered.
19:38
SPEAKER_00: What I'm saying is I wasn't using the time that I did have very intentionally.
19:44
SPEAKER_00: Without my normal boundaries and schedule, I just wasn't as efficient with my time.
19:49
SPEAKER_00: I always seemed to have a to-do list, but somehow I never seemed to get through it.
19:53
SPEAKER_00: I could spend a whole day being busy and still look at my list at the end of the day and wonder what actually did I accomplish?
19:59
SPEAKER_00: I simply wasn't as productive as I could have been.
20:03
SPEAKER_00: And when I reached the end of the week, there were still things hanging over me that made it harder to truly stop.
20:11
SPEAKER_00: I noticed this again and again.
20:13
SPEAKER_00: The more intentional I am with the other six days, the easier it is for me to protect the seventh.
20:20
SPEAKER_00: When I've worked diligently, planned ahead, gotten the groceries, taken care of what needs to be taken care of, and used my time well, I'm much more able to stop when Sabbath comes.
20:33
SPEAKER_00: I can go to church and turn my attention toward God, to worship, to be grateful for the blessings he's given me, to allow him to refresh and restore me.
20:42
SPEAKER_00: I can spend time with my family.
20:43
SPEAKER_00: I can get outside, take a long walk, cook something that I enjoy cooking or work in the garden.
20:49
SPEAKER_00: I can simply slow down and be present.
20:52
SPEAKER_00: I can enjoy those things without constantly feeling like I should be doing something else.
20:58
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's why Sabbath can restore so many of the things that a busy, distracted life can quietly steal from us.
21:07
SPEAKER_00: Margin, slowness, quiet, deep relationships, time alone, clarity, gratitude, love, joy, peace.
21:16
SPEAKER_00: That's really what this fall reset has been all about.
21:20
SPEAKER_00: Intentionally making room for the things that help us live well and become the people we want to become.
21:29
SPEAKER_00: Over the past several episodes, we've talked about the eight habits that I'm intentionally putting back into my life.
21:35
SPEAKER_00: Four daily practice practices, exercise, eating God-given foods, prayer and time in the word, and gratitude.
21:44
SPEAKER_00: And four weekly practices, fasting, purposeful growth, community, and Sabbath.
21:51
SPEAKER_00: None of these things are complicated, but that's really been the point of this entire reset.
21:57
SPEAKER_00: We can easily drift out of good habits, but we don't drift into them.
22:02
SPEAKER_00: The things that matter require intentionality.
22:05
SPEAKER_00: They require planning, preparation, practice, and sometimes the self-discipline to follow through even when something else is competing for her attention.
22:18
SPEAKER_00: So as we head into this fall, I invite you to recommit with me to these eight life-giving habits.
22:27
SPEAKER_00: I'm recommitting not because I expect to do them perfectly, and not because checking eight boxes somehow guarantees me a perfect life.
22:34
SPEAKER_00: I'm committing to them because I know what they produce in me.
22:38
SPEAKER_00: They help me care for my body, they help keep me connected to God.
22:42
SPEAKER_00: They strengthen my relationships.
22:44
SPEAKER_00: They help me continue learning and growing.
22:46
SPEAKER_00: They create space for gratitude, discipline, community, and rest.
22:51
SPEAKER_00: They help me build the kind of life I actually want to live and become the kind of person I want to become.
22:57
SPEAKER_00: And I invite you to join me.
22:59
SPEAKER_00: If you haven't already, grab the free fall reset printables.
23:03
SPEAKER_00: Put these habits somewhere that you can see them.
23:06
SPEAKER_00: Decide what they will look like in your own life and make a plan for when and how you're going to practice them.
23:13
SPEAKER_00: And then practice.
23:15
SPEAKER_00: When you get off track, get back to it.
23:18
SPEAKER_00: When you have a hard week, begin again.
23:21
SPEAKER_00: Ask God for wisdom, ask him for strength, and then keep making the choices that move you toward the life you know he desires for you.
23:29
SPEAKER_00: Make the plan, create the structure, and then commit it all to God.
23:36
SPEAKER_00: I'll talk to you next time.
23:39
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for spending this time with me.
23:41
SPEAKER_00: To learn more, visit SoulStrengthFit.com.