It's Only A Habit

Once in a while, we are asked to break a habit. Your spouse may ask you to change something that might be a little irritating. Sometimes our habits are detrimental to our health our well-being.
We are all creatures of habit. We like the routine. We like comforting sameness. We like the reassurance of being in the comfort zone.
Most of our habits are ingrained in us from the way we were raised. When I was a child, all the kids Dads worked till 3:30 or 4:00. After school got out, that gave us about an hour to play. When the Dads came home, we had to be home, too.
At our house, supper was always at 5:15. Not five or five thirty, but five fifteen. You never wanted to be late, I can tell you. Suppertime was mandatory.
Suppertime also fell right in the middle of the Mickey Mouse club. Even if it was Spin & Marty, Annette, or cartoons, the TV was shut off, and we were washed up, and sitting at the table at five-fifteen.
My mother was a well-balanced cook. We always had a green vegetable, yuck. We have our starch, yeah, and some sort of meat. We couldn't have any milk or dessert, until our plate was cleaned. We had to eat everything on it.
The kitchen was set up the same as both my grandmothers' kitchens were. Plates in the center, glasses to the right, cups to the left. The bigger bowls for serving and mixing on the higher shelf and on the way up top, were the dishes used at holidays and for company.
In the lower cupboard, were the pots and pans and baking sheets, etc. Just about any of our aunt's kitchen were set up the same way. When I had my first home, and my sisters had theirs, we followed this tradition. It became a habit.
How about tradition. Let's talk about Christmas. We were all raised with certain Christmas traditions. The manger scene sat in a certain place. The ornaments were hung a certain way, and Lord help us if the tinsel wasn't hung just right. Christmas candles were never burned, they were put away for next year. Of course, sometimes they didn't look quite the same after spending a very warm summer in the attic. And the food, oh the food. We always had to have the same treats. Cookies and candy and Grandma's sausage cake, even if the ingredients got more and more expensive, it had to be. Traditions are habits handed down from generation through generation.
All this is to say, it's not our fault. We can blame our ancestors for some of our behavior. After all it's easier to do that than to admit that our habits are really not habits at all, but choices we make. That might not be good either.
Well, back to this habitual behavior we have developed. Let's go back again to that well of child hood memories. We didn't have TV until I was seven years old and then it was only on for so many hours a day. At night they closed down the stations and the sound of the Star Spangled Banner meant everyone was in for the night. But things have a way of changing don't they? There was Ding Dong School and Captain Kangaroo. Kate Smith always ended her show with When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain. Bedtime was 8:00 pm during school and 9:00 in the summer. And we wonder why we can't stay up late. Brushing your teeth? It was just easier to get it done than try to fake brushing. And did you ever miss school? It didn't matter if you were on your death bed, when Dad got home that would invariably lead to the telling how he walked to school, up hill, both ways, in a snow storm every day. He never missed school. Going to school became a habit. The habit of being committed. Some even had perfect attendance.
Going to church was another habit that was ingrained in our life. Although my parents and most of the parents of my friends didn't go, I don't think there was one kid in our neighborhood that stayed home from Sunday school. Staying for church was a "big" decision. Sometimes we would skip out and go to the drugstore and spend our offering on junk. Needless to say, this didn't happen all that often, because contrary to popular belief, mothers do know. So I habitually attended church. I also sang in the youth choir, attended youth fellowship and helped in vacation Bible school. It was a good habit.
It sounds to me that I was just on the right path. Habitually speaking that is. But all habits, good or bad, are just that, habits. I fell in love. I got married in church, and I became my mother. Church was something to send the children to on Sunday so my husband and I could sleep in. Church was to be attended for weddings, funerals, Easter and Christmas and of course if our children performed.
Reading the Bible and studying God's word was something for other people, those religious ones to do. It wasn't important nor was I able to get into the habit. Then my brother got killed. All those habits I had developed over the years just didn't matter. It no longer mattered if we ate supper right on time. It no longer made a difference if my kitchen was set up a certain way. Christmas lost a lot of the family tradition feel, because our family had changed.
Now I suppose you are waiting to hear that this event so changed my life brought me back to church, to the Bible, to God. It did for awhile, because I prayed a lot, but my habits were very ingrained in my life.
Time passes. Habits remain the same. Then life changes. My husband lost his job. I went to work. New habits had to take place. He stayed home and I got up early. The children grew up and moved away and started their own lives. I got divorced. I dated. I had no place in this world. All my habits couldn't find roots. I married again. Didn't last. That marriage was not based on anything substantial, no habits were formed, nothing to give it roots.
I met my husband Dale and he was adrift also. We started putting down roots and creating our own traditions and making new habits.
We both had many habits that needed to be done away with. We both smoked. We both liked to eat fast food. We loved to go "partyh". Church, don't ask. Our weekends were spent sleeping in. We really didn't see the need to change our habits.
My son, now grown, a father, divorced, and smoking pot changed our habits. His testimony is so awesome. I can't get into the whole thing, but his friend fixed his washer for him. As payment, he wanted him to go to church. Although he wasn't sure, he made the deal. Well, he got saved. He accepted Christ into his heart and was changed. He never smoked another thing. He started going to church every Sunday. He attended mid-week service and got into a Bible study. He started praying and reading the Bible. And he talked about his new found relationship with God.
It was all very interesting. But you see, by now I was in the habit of watching the Hour of Power. Church, I still didn't see the need. I think God was really working on us. Finally Dale said okay, we'll come. We walked in that little church and both of us were changed. We were home.
We too got into Sunday school. I don't think we've missed very many Sundays since that first one. We joined a small group and started some new habits. We read the Bible every day, using the Upper Room as a guide. We don't smoke anymore. We don't do fast food like we used to. We don't "party". Instead, we gave our lives to Christ and He has given us new habits.
We pray. We pray grace before our meals. We pray before we go to bed at night. I joined a prayer circle. We serve in our church. We censor what we watch and listen to. We have new habits and they are contagious.
People know that they can come to us for prayer. They can see we are happy and content.
So when you are looking at your life and you might see some habits that you would like to change, go to Christ. He'll give you new habits and he'll even help you break those old ones.
Maybe you might be the type of person I used to be, I'm too old to change. My habits are so ingrained in me, I can't change. Take it from me, there is nothing too big, too bad, or too habitual that God can't handle. He is waiting.
Loving God, trusting Jesus, and letting the Holy Spirit guide your life are all very good habits.
Don't give up. A habit, healthy or bad, begins with just one step. I have found that I like being habitual in talking about my God, my Jesus, and my Holy Spirit. It's a great way to testify. Then I can truly say, my walk with Christ is only a habit.

By: Alice J. Pomeroy © 2008