While James Clear, writing from a secular viewpoint, maintains “the more you repeat a behavior, the more you reinforce the identity associated with that behavior”, author James K.A. Smith in his book You Are What You Love takes into the spiritual world the same acknowledgment that habits have power to shape identity.  Smith puts his finger on an uncomfortable truth: No matter how many great sermons we might hear or books we might read, “we can’t think our way to holiness”. (p.5) “Virtues,” Smith posits, “are learned and acquired, through imitation and practice.” (19) Therefore, “discipleship is more a matter of reformation than…

Yesterday I wrote that any good habit could be justified in this way: “I do this habit because I want to be the kind of person who . . .”. James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, puts it this way: “Every action you take (in forming a new habit) is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.”  When I clear the kitchen counter, it is a vote cast for “a person who is tidy and organized”. When I choose broccoli over a candy bar, it is a vote cast for “a physically healthy individual”.  James Clear…

I make the bed just about every morning before I leave the house for work these days. I straighten the pillows, pull the sheet and comforter tight against the headboard, and put the three decorative pillows into place. It’s one of my fairly recent morning habits but I have been doing it long enough that it has already become fairly automatic.  Somehow this habit came up in conversation with a student the other day and he asked the obvious question: “Why bother?” “It’s just going to get messy again, right?” I didn’t have a snappy answer for him in that…

(Something James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, pointed out on a podcast…) Every habit has a cost and reward associated with it. A key difference between good habits and bad habits is the order in which the related cost and reward occur.  A bad habit tends to feature an immediate reward, followed later (sometimes MUCH later) by the cost. Eat a bowl of ice cream tonight and the reward is immediate: smooth, creamy satisfying goodness. Eat that bowl of ice cream every night for five years and you have quite a few extra pounds and possibly some related health problems.…

My goal this Friday night and Saturday night was to go to bed within a half hour of my newly firm weekday bedtime of 10:00 PM. I almost made it: I was in bed shortly before 11:00 both nights. That was close enough, apparently.  Saturday morning I woke up feeling refreshed at 6:00 AM. And today I woke up at 5:10. Both mornings I enjoyed a quiet cup of coffee, some Scripture time, and some reading in You Are What You Love. This morning, I still had plenty of time to make breakfast (Caleb was home for the weekend) and…

Every once in a while I get curious about how often some particular word turns up in Scripture and I will use the search function on my Bible app to see what there is. Today I looked up the word “eyes” because I am trying to find a deeper understanding of what the Bible means when it talks of having “eyes to see and ears to hear”. My curiosity is being sparked by You Are What You Love, which I am currently reading.  Genesis alone has 29 references to eyes, with only a handful concerning literal physical eyes. There is a variety…

For the last three nights I have successfully gotten myself into bed at 10:00 PM on the dot. It’s a little early to draw firm conclusions, I know, but I have been so encouraged by my experience that I am anxious to share already. For the past three mornings I have woken up ten to twenty minutes before my alarm, set for 5:15 AM. I am finding my mornings to be more productive: I am moving faster, sooner. At least two of the last three mornings, I have been able to get 15 to 20 minutes of real exercise in…

It’s official. I received word today that I have been accepted into the doctorate of ministry program at Wesley Biblical Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi.  I’m going back to school!  I will start in October. Each six months will bring two classes with a one week intensive on campus. That will continue for the first two years and then the third year will be devoted to my dissertation.  Other than those few facts, I have NO IDEA what I am getting myself into. I’ve been planning this since early June and just finished my application last week. And to be honest,…

When it comes to the psalms, I have long wondered this: does the Lord condone every sentiment expressed by each of the psalmists?  Another way of asking this: is every line of every psalm inspired by the Holy Spirit in the same manner as all other Scripture, or are they – at least in part – a record of raw human emotion? Maybe even human emotion that occasionally runs counter to God’s will? This question nagged me again this morning as I found myself in Psalm 35.  King David starts the psalm on solid ground: “Contend, LORD, with those who contend…