Habit

Last Sunday we arrived home from almost four weeks away. When we drove into our driveway the front garden looked like the photo above. It really looked quite bad. The grass had gone wild and weeds were everywhere in the garden. It puzzled me greatly because just a few days before we left I cut the grass and Jo and I spent a whole day in the garden weeding and tidying up. Why then would it look like this after just a few short weeks? I blame the second law of thermodynamics. In laymans terms it says that anything left to itself will run down and deteriorate. My garden certainly did. The only thing to be done is to cut the grass, not just once but repeatedly. I will have to do it again, and again, and again!

It made me think of the many things I do repeatedly in life. We call these things 'habits'. The dictionary defines a habit as 'A recurrent, often unconscious pattern of behavior that is acquired through frequent repetition'. Life is filled with habits. Some good and others not so good.

Some quotes I came across:

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit." Aristotle

"A nail is driven out by another nail. Habit is overcome by habit." Desiderius Erasmus

"First we form habits, then they form us. Conquer your bad habits or they will conquer you."
Rob Gilbert

Watch your thoughts; they become words._Watch your words; they become actions._Watch your actions; they become habits._Watch your habits; they become character._Watch your character; it becomes your destiny. _--Frank Outlaw

Well I am about to start a new year of ministry at Hobart. I have been considereing what habits should I be building in order to be effective in ministry?

The dictionary definition tells me that a habit is formed by repeatedly doing something. If there is any practice that I would like to become a habit in my life, then I must do it again and again.

The Christian life is filled with habits - that is, a collection of practices that I need to build into my life and do them often enough that they become a habit.

One habit I need to develop above all others is spending time alone with the Lord to pray, read the scriptures and hear His voice. If I get to the end of this year and I can say that this has become a daily practice, I think that would be good. - But just like my garden, I will have to do it again and again.

We are what we repeatedly do!