That One Habit

I have lots of habits that are worth the work. I go to the grocery store with a list and a rule that if it's not on the list then it's not in the store. I am capable of using coupons without getting sucked into spending more than I would have if it wasn't for the coupon. There can be a chocolate cake sitting in front of me and I will be satisfied with one normal sized piece. I'm not one to let clutter build and build and build, I deal with it here a little there a little so it's never really out of control. I have this thing where if I'm sitting in a car waiting for something, I will tidy it up. I'm never overwhelmed by laundry because I always stay on top of it. I am really good at waiting because I don't see it as a bore.

These are little habits that I've developed and they serve me really well. They aren't huge. They don't require hardly any effort. The payoff comes with what they accomplish. Most of them are completely mindless. They're just part of who I am. The thing is, I'm really grateful for each one. For every good habit, I know I have bad ones. I put butter knives into the dishwasher handle up and refuse to pre-wash anything before it goes in. I only check the pockets on laundry that hasn't made it to the hamper yet. I carry around ice water like my life depends on it and leave water rings all over the place. I wait way too long to clean the beater bar on the vacuum. I'm not very generous when it comes to, well...anything. I am really good at leaving accomplishments for "someday" and not being bothered that I haven't even tried yet. My handwriting has been called chicken-scratch on more than one occasion. My posture is basically terrible. I repeat myself if it doesn't seem like I've been understood.

My point is...I have habits. Some good, some bad. Every single one of them with a traceable impact. Some I work on, some are little more than mere accidents. They're all worth considering and either strengthening or eliminating. We all have that one habit that makes the most difference in our lives. It's the thing that we can come back to for an automatic reset. It's the thing that we never abandon altogether. It's the thing that grounds us and centers us and grants us perspective. It's the  constant that everything else depends on.

For me, that habit is my time in the Word.

Nine times out of ten, it's as simple as sitting down with something to drink, a pen, my journal, and my Bible. That's it. No fancy books. No elaborate handouts. No accountability partners. No markers or paints or color coded highlighters. I go through spurts where I tie in another book or a deeper study, but I've found that what I crave most is just undivided time to read large chunks of Scripture and write out my thoughts and prayers and the ways what I've read intersects with what's going on in the world. I plod through chapter after chapter, going back to certain ones again and again while trying to make sure not too much time passes before I make it back around to the ones I'd otherwise forget about.

The one thing I hear over and over again where habits are concerned is that people wish they'd be better about reading their Bibles. And I get it. It IS important. And yet, it's the thing people tend to put off. I think it's mostly because they haven't formed a habit. I also think it's because they think it requires some kind of something that they don't have in them.

You don't have to be a scholar. You don't have to be a writer. You don't have to wake up extremely early. You don't have to have someone checking up on you. You don't have to have THE best translation.

When I first started, I often read my brand new Bible with my name on the cover in the car. I started with Revelation because I wanted to know what hadn't happened yet. Then, I moved onto Ephesians because I memorized a verse from there in Sunday school. In those days, that's all I did. I was 9 years old and I read the Bible the way I read any other book. Before I knew it, I found myself sitting on the blue shag carpet in my bedroom pouring over magazine versions of the Bible with a pencil in my hand. I filled notebooks with verses that were especially meaningful or challenging and scribbled thoughts of my own alongside of them. Then, I went to a leadership conference and was forced to spend solid hours in silence with my Bible and a journal outline. The assignment was to read a given text, copy it down, and work your way through it interpreting it and praying about it. I took that journal home with me and kept it up until it was full. And then, I bought a regular journal and kept reading and writing and praying my way through the Bible that way. Before I knew it, I had been at it for years. The habit that still seemed new, like something I do "now" but that hadn't really been doing for very long, had become a given.

I have a feeling it's similar for all of us. Whatever it is, we put effort into something and find meaning in it and before we know it, we don't ever really get away from it. Maybe it's Bible reading. Maybe it's walking. Maybe it's only ever taking showers first thing in the morning. Maybe it's going to the grocery store when we know it will be the least busy. Maybe it's stopping by our favorite coffee stand for a specific drink heated to the perfect temperature, no matter what. Maybe it's eating salads for lunch even though we'd rather have something hot and deepfried.

There's one habit that ties everything together for all of us.

If you've ever wanted that habit to be your time in the Word, give it another go. And keep giving it a go. It doesn't matter if 3 days or 8 days or 4 months go by between journal entries, choose a time, keep it simple, and watch as something you've wanted to be true of you becomes true of you. Before you know it, it'll be everything you hoped it would be. All because you stuck with it. All because you didn't give up. All because, it's part of who you are.

All you need is a Bible, a pen, a journal, and some time.