An Ally in Your Corner

Brushing your teeth.  Hanging your towel up after a shower.  Tying your shoes.

These are simple tasks each of us does without thought or conscious choice.

We call this learned behavior a habit, and I’ve been pondering lately how much this God-designed feature of our human nature can be helpful if we recognize and use it to purposeful advantage.

This awareness began as I heard the earnest plea of the woman across me, “I DO want to spend time in God’s Word, and I know how important it is….but it’s so hard to fight the obstacles!  Getting up early, resisting the other things that call for my attention,  being tired at the end of the day…I just can’t seem to consistently spend the time w/God that I desire.”

As I analyzed my own life and the pattern of Bible reading I have established, it has not been without similar difficulties. (LOTS of years of ups & downs!)  But somewhere along the way, in God’s grace and ONLY God’s grace, a breakthrough occurred that resulted in an ingrained routine that I now enjoy with consistency.  And this has come largely because I formed a habit.*

A habit by definition is “ a settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up”,  and we often think of it in the category of something bad.

But a good habit? Well,  it can reap bounties of benefit for years to come.

Allow me to explain:

A habit requires no thought or willful choice; its action is predetermined and automatic. It is not influenced by feeling, emotion, or tiredness. Its performance does not need convincing or motivation or effort. 
You. Just. Do. It.

•          So, the dad with the habit of physical exercise gets up each morning (or leaves work each evening) to work out, run, or walk.
•          The woman who, as a habit of life, attends church on Sunday gets up each week when the alarm goes off, prepares to depart, and arrives on time to worship.
•          The pet owner who walks her dog as a daily habit, finishes dinner and hooks the leash to Skipper and the two are off on a stroll in the neighborhood.

To each of these three it matters not the weather, how the day went, if he/she feels like doing this, or what else is going in his or her life (those things don’t even get considered) ---because this is a regular, ongoing lifestyle choice one maintains without thinking.

A habit.

And yes, the habit had to be formed. Initially, one had to push past ALL the obstacles and persevere through distasteful resistance.  Likely, it wasn’t all that fun.  They say it takes 6-10 weeks to develop a new habit.  This takes consistency and endurance.

BUT (and oh, what a lovely “but” this is!)

Once formed, a habit carries you for a very  l-o-n-g  way…sometimes they are life-long!

• Consider the woman I first mentioned who wants to spend time in God’s Word, desires this as a life pattern, daily or regularly putting her mind & heart before the truth of Scripture.
• Or the one who wants to consistently & repeatedly spend time in prayer for her loved ones, the suffering Christians across the world, and just praise God in worshipful prayer.
• Or the one who seeks to memorize Scripture.
• (Or 100 other good applications!)

Strategy:  Commit to 8 weeks of forming a habit

Once formed the habit itself will carry 90% of the activity, so that you do it without conscious question or choice.

And that reaps double benefit:

1.        It allows you to be consistent in the behavior that is the new habit
2.        It leaves you free to put your conscious effort toward something else. Indeed, the more good things you form into habits, the more effort & energy you’ll have to do put toward other things.

God equips us ( in our human weakness) in many different ways. I’d suggest one of these provisions is in the ability we have to form a habit that can almost effortlessly help us live out a repetitive aspect of life to better glorify Him.

Unleash the power of the next habit you’ll form….and reap its bounty for years to come!

*This habit is not of my own willpower, because I'm so spiritual, or somehow represents personal achievement. It is because of God. And I have a large number of non-habits that I still struggle with to which I need to apply this post. So please don't read me as the hero in this. 

Holy Spirit, Work in Me

By grand design the seed was burrowed 
deep within the ground.
The spark of life ignited
without sight and without sound.
The cold, dead soil now spawns new life, 
a plant begins to show.
Where once lay nothing now
is fertile ground for life to grow.



And so the Holy Spirit in his own mysterious way
Visits the hopeless soul, plants life where only death had lay. 
And mystically transforms it, gives ability to hear
To understand, believe and trust-the gospel becomes clear!


The sapling pushes past the soil, a vibrant show of growth
Fed through roots beneath the soil which rich nutrients boast
And coupled with the sunshine, nurtured with the gentle rain
Creates a thriving, growing tree whose life will long remain.


When heart made knew by God’s intent is grafted in the vine
‘tis then the Spirit nudges, nurtures, crafts a new design
Changed by the Word, transforming life, the Spirit is the one
Who fuels this life, who guarantees the heart-change work gets done .


The breath of life that lives within the strong majestic oak,

As nature paints God’s majesty, life sparked through his brush stroke
Is but a pale comparison to the wonder He performed
As Spirit breathed life into death, and my soul was transformed.


O Holy Spirit, do in me, what I can never do.
Give me the heart of God, my thoughts and loves and deeds renew.
Pulse through my roots and branches the rich nutrient I need
May I grow tall and strong and true—Holy Spirit, work in me. 

Do you ever feel like your life is so hopelessly far from what God would want it to be? That your heart is still so influenced by selfishness, self-protection, laziness and well...just self? 
I'm SO thankful that the Holy Spirit, this part of God himself, was given to us to reside permanently in us, to address just such an inadequacy. 
What WE could never do (transform us into God's likeness) HE is doing every day that we live. 
The same power that saved this cold, dead heart is the power that is remaking it into the image of Christ himself. 

Thank you, Holy Spirit!

Dishwasher Wars

Not a new reality TV show but an admittedly exaggerated description for what goes on in our home regularly.

I load the dishwasher, packing in all items to my liking and efficiency, and shut the door.
Without stealth or pretense, Jon will enter the loading area sometime later, open the dishwasher to put in his singular item, and pause…

From there, the reorganizing, removing, and reloading commences. 
By the time he is finished, it resembles little of the original loaded appliance.
Total overhaul, remodel, or whatever ‘re-do’ word you’d choose to use.

I’ve learned to smile and not take offense.
(Seriously, a guy who loads the dishwasher---which he does regularly!---is not one to quibble about technique with. I’m smart enough to be thankful & keep my mouth shut.)

Usually.

“Not good enough?”, I ask, (usually with my hands folded across my chest).“I thought the task complete.”
“It’s not like your salvation relies on the top & bottom racks being completely perfect”, I chasten.
(Bringing doctrine into an issue with my theologian-husband is a technique I learned early in our marriage.)

He laughs, assures me it is ‘no big deal’, and distracts me with his charm.
(Ok, the last phrase is where the “reality” of this tale  might "fudge", but you get the drift.)

I articulate this entire (true) account because it reflects a behavior we sometimes repeat in a more serious area of our life.
To our Saviour.
Oh, it’s not about dishes or loading technique.
But it is about the completed, finished work of His death on the Cross that needs nothing added.
And yet how sometimes, unwittingly, we think (or feel) we have to sneak back into the “kitchen’ to “help” finish the job---as if it were not quite ‘complete’.

I was struck with this parallel after listening to the powerful words of the following song:

Complete in Thee

Complete in Thee! no work of mine
May take, dear Lord, the place of Thine;
Thy blood hath pardon bought for me,
And I am now complete in Thee.

Complete in Thee! no more shall sin,
Thy grace hath conquered, reign within;
Thy voice shall bid the tempter flee,
And I shall stand complete in Thee.

Complete in Thee, each want supplied,
And no good thing to me denied;
Since Thou my portion, Lord, wilt be,
I ask no more, complete in Thee.

Dear Saviour! when before Thy bar
All tribes and tongues assembled are,
Among Thy chosen will I be,
At Thy right hand, complete in Thee.

Refrain:
Yea, justified! O blessed thought!
And sanctified! Salvation wrought!
Thy blood hath pardon bought for me,
And glorified, I too, shall be!

As redeemed, forgiven daughters of our God, we stand complete in his sight.
In at least 3 areas, I can rest in confidence: NO FURTHER WORK IS NEEDED!

1. I am clothed in the righteousness of Christ that makes my pure standing before God complete – I don’t need to try to be good, do good, act good or appear good to please God.  He completed that goodness in me through Christ.                                                                                                     
2. I am equipped to have victory over the sin struggles in my life. I don’t need to look to my past --blaming people/circumstances/heredity for my failings, I don’t need to find the magic ‘techniques’ or rely on a support group to guarantee my victory over habits. I don’t have to wait until ‘such & such” a circumstance changes so I can THEN change and take control. I don't need to settle for a way of behavior that is "just the way I am".My resource to fight sin is complete. And it is in Him, not anything or anyone else                                                                                           Christ. Has. Already. Conquered. Sin.                        
3. I have all I need in Christ. My identity is not in my relationships, my achievements, my status, my possessions, my children, my pleasures. AND I DO NOT NEED ANY OF THESE THINGS to find joy and contentment, purpose or identity.  I can rest…complete in Him. 

The gospel is not about what we do, but about what already has been done.

Do I sometimes sneak back in the kitchen & affront God by trying to mess with what He’s already finished? (I would be much better off in all these occasions to instead look to HIM. )
His work is complete.

Enjoy a spectacular musical reminder of this truth here