Creatures of Habit

It's said that old habits die hard, but frankly new habits die hard, too. This was never made more obvious to Brad and I then when I recently moved a garbage can to a different location in our new home. We've not lived in this house a month yet, so we're still figuring out where we want to put things. Originally I had put our 13-gallon garbage can in our breakfast nook around the counter from the kitchen. Then a few days ago, I got the idea to put a smaller can closer and handier underneath the kitchen sink. I moved the bigger can in the breakfast nook to a far corner, to still have it available if needed. However, since we'd been throwing away garbage to the original location, Brad and I found ourselves going back to that area over and over again ... after it had only been there two weeks. It was a similar situation with our refrigerator. While waiting for a new fridge to arrive, we were using the old fridge which had been relocated to the laundry room. Even after the new refrigerator was in place, we found ourselves still walking the gallon of milk back to the laundry room fridge a good five days later. We are definitely creatures of habit. And how quickly we can instill those habits.

That being said, I found myself quite easily breaking a habit I had prior to the move: my devotion time. I like to spend the first part of my morning in Bible reading and prayer whether silently or through journaling. When we moved last month, with all the different things that needed done - unpacking, rearranging, cleaning, etc. - I found that I neglected my devotion time. I went right to the jobs and ignored that time with my Lord. I might say, "I'll get to it," but then never did. The Lord doesn't like it when I neglect that time, so he started waking me at 2 or 3 a.m. If I won't set aside time for Him, then He'll make so I have to. So in the middle of the night I was reading Scripture and praying. That's not a bad thing. I cherish those times with God (some great learning was done), but I still wasn't making room for Him myself. Then I started getting sick every morning. Allergies. They would wipe me out, not just in the morning, but all day. This morning I woke up and started to go about the day's work and began my usual early repetitive sneezing, In exasperation, I said to myself, "Everything can wait." I stopped what I was doing, grabbed my Bible and journal and found a cozy quiet place to sit.

I'm in the middle of the book of Daniel, so was reading Daniel 4 about Babylon King Nebuchadnezzar's crazy dream about a mighty tree, cut to the ground, stripped of its leaves and fruit scattered. Daniel interprets the dream for the king telling him it's actually about Lord driving Nebuchadnezzar from his throne for a bit, even to the point of madness, until he acknowledges that God is the Most High. Daniel gives the king this advice: "Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue." (Daniel 4:27) Rather than heed the advice, the king, just 12 months later, heralds his own mighty power and glory. Oops! So of course the dream comes true. The king becomes animalistic, eating grass like cattle, his hair thinning like feathers and his nails growing like claws. Creepy. Seven years later, he acknowledges and praises the Most High God and his kingdom is restored.

What a wake up call for me! I'm not a king, nor have a built a great city. I'm not eating grass, losing hair or growing scary claws. But the Lord was certainly getting my attention. I think the Lord gave me a little leeway with the busyness of the move, but that time is over. GOD COMES FIRST. He always does. I had created a new habit of ignoring my Father, and was suffering for it. The suffering can manifest itself in different ways, from loss of direction, loss of time and stumbling over road blocks during the day to even more grave issues, especially if making wrong decisions when not focused on the Father.

And when I do set that time aside for Him, it's so glorious! I delight in who He is! I confess and rid myself of sins! I learn something! I lift many others to Him for interaction and healing! I thank Him for the many blessings and challenges in His fine-tuning and pruning. Gosh, I missed that.

I've read it takes just 14 days to create a new habit, so I will be making a conscious effort to sit down with my Lord every morning. And soon hope that instead of looking at my unused Bible and saying, "I'll get to it," will instead say, "Everything can wait. It's time for my Jesus."

We're still not quite used to where the new garbage can is - Brad will walk over there and let out an "arrrrggg" when we realizes he's walked to the other place - but we'll get there. The new location is more efficient and smarter ... just like the devotion time habit I'm working on.

Be Still

I've seen it over and over and over again this week. "Be still and know that I am God." It comes from Psalm 46:10. I have heard it in various devotions, Christian songs, even a Facebook memory where a friend shared a Jesus Calling devotion with me years ago on that very subject. It got to a point where I said out loud, "OK, Lord, I get it. I get it. I'm not spending enough alone time with you."

Anyone who knows me knows "being still" is not my gift. I like to keep busy. That's not to say I'm always running around, but I'm not one to sit still and do nothing. I'm pretty much always doing something, even in those sitting-still moments. So even during my devotion times with God in the mornings (after reading Scripture or while walking), I'm doing a whole lot of talking to him. To "be still and know" requires blocking out external influences and really listening for God. I suppose that's why I'm drawn to the beach so often ... you do a lot of sitting and "being still" there in awe of Him.

But recently, I found myself going full force first thing in the morning, forgetting to just be still and know Him. I'd walk into my office and see my Bible and journal sitting there on the pink bed and do an "oh yeah, I haven't done that yet. I'll get to it" wave of the hand before going about doing want I thought I needed to do first. I was pushing what should have been my first priority of the day to the side. And you know, when I do that, it seems as if my day gets out of whack pretty quickly. When the Lord keeps putting "be still and know" in front of you countless times in one week, you figure He must have something very important He needs to share with you, convict you of, teach you and/or nudge you to do. Or maybe, just maybe, He just wants to spend time with me.

My daughter calls me every single morning, except Sundays when she's worshiping. On her 25-30 minute drive to work, she calls. We chat about the previous day or the day ahead. We talk about things we're struggling with, joys we're experiencing, adventures we hope to have and funny stories along the way. I look so forward to speaking with her each day, that oftentimes I'll drag myself out of bed after a late night just to be sure I'm up to receive her call. And if I miss it, I feel like I've missed out on a truly precious moment to start off my day.

Now look at it from God's perspective. Look at the above paragraph as if God wrote it. If I love it when my daughter takes the time to call each day, how much more the Father must love it when we take time to "call." God was missing my calls. If Ayla let five days go by without calling, I would miss her so very much ... and frankly worry that something was wrong. Knowing this, I don't want God to miss me. I need Him in my life every single moment. And honestly, when I'm not going to Him, something is wrong.

The moment I sat down to have my quiet time with God this morning reading through my chronological Bible, I thought, "I've got to write about how important this is." So I read my Bible, wrote a prayer in my journal and immediately sat down to write this. So while I read and prayed, I really have not listened as much as I should have just yet. I do believe the Father inspired me to write this for His glory ... but now it's time to be still and do some listening.

Prep Time

You should see me get ready to walk each day. It's pretty comical. I don't just throw on a pair of shoes and walk my daily 2 miles. First I put on my walking shorts (stretchy and comfy), a snug jog bra, an old T-shirt I've cut the sleeves and collar off (instant tank top) and ankle socks. But no, I'm not done there. Then I slide my Ipod under my shirt with the ear buds coming out of the top of the collarless tank and clip it to my shorts. I also clip a retracting key chain with my house key dangling from it to the waist band of my shorts. I clip my cellphone case on. I put my hair in a ponytail and top everything off with my sparkly visor (whichever matches that day's outfit - I'm not kidding). Then I check the duct tape on the inside back of my walking shoes. The inside lining wore off (I always slip on the shoes verses untying and tying them), but the soles are still good, so the duct tape is allowing me to get more turf time with this pair. But the duct tape curls periodically, so I need to change it every few days.

I have found doing all this makes my daily walk much more enjoyable. I've got my music. My kids or husband can get a hold of me if they need to or I can have a 30 minute visit with a friend via cellphone. My face and eyes are protected from the sun via the visor. If I forget the key, I'm locked out. If I forget the visor, I'm squinting the whole time. If I don't check the duct tape, I can end up with a blister. Yes, it's quite a process to get out the door, but since I do this every day, it takes just minutes to get everything together. Then I'm good to go. Prepared, safe, secure, comfy ... I'm better for the walk. The prep time is worth it.


Recently I noticed that I had gotten too busy in the morning for my devotion time. Strike that. Make it "too lazy." I say too lazy, because honestly, I had the time, I was just not getting to it. I decided to turn things around a couple weeks ago. I asked the Lord to wake me as the sun rises so the first thing I do each day is spend time with him.

Now, you need to know, I am NOT a morning person. I'm the gal who kicks in about 3 p.m. I get more things accomplished, faster and more efficiently in the afternoon to evening hours. So asking God to wake me early was not my first choice. But I noticed that the sunlight wakes me up every morning anyways to my chagrin. And it's a beautiful time of day, so peaceful and sweet, watching the sun creep up over the horizon, that it feels like Jesus is starting the day just for me.

So I got myself a new Bible study and have been giving my Father about 30 minutes to an hour each morning in devotion, study and prayer. And it's been delightful. I have learned so much, had miraculous answers to prayer, gone through my prayer lists over and over again, been nudged by the Spirit to meet the needs of others, corrected some behaviors (okay, still working on those) and just basked in the glory and worship of the Son. Call it my day prep time.

I'm getting about four times more accomplished, I'm growing Spiritually and getting much better rest each night. What a blessing this morning devotion time has turned out to be for this very non-morning person. And honestly, like getting ready for my walk, it's not been difficult at all to get into the routine. The Lord has been faithful to wake me up early every day and I have stayed faithful to spend time with Him. It guards my heart, this morning time with Him. I need it and love it.

I have done devotion times at all times of the day, but I can say with all honesty, when I do it in the morning, the day goes better ... every time. My focus is where it needs to be. I love that prep time. I'm better for the day.

Prepared, safe, secure ... and comfy in Jesus.