HABITS THAT CHANGE YOU FOR THE BETTER OR WORSE.
CHANGE YOUR BELIEF SYSTEM – CHANGE YOUR HABITS –
CHANGE YOUR LIFE
“Good morning it’s time to rise and shine, Good morning, good morning, good morning, I hope you’re feeling fine” The sun is just above the hill, Another day for us to fill. With all the things we love to do, Oh can’t you hear, it’s calling you. Oh! Doodley do, Doodley do. Doodley do Good morning, Good morning, good morning. You gotta get up, get out of bed. You’ve gotta get up, you sleepy head.The day is dawning just for you, and all your dreams are coming true.
How do we make our dreams come true? One discipline at a time. When I grew up, I remember being the oldest at home with my 3 younger siblings. Mom’s life was always seemingly so rushed with so little time for anything except….just living from day to day. I don’t ever recall her mentioning a plan for the future. I’m sure she was always thinking ahead, because she always had dinner and we always had clean clothes and a roof over our heads. I wasn’t too grateful back then, as I recall. So, as I look back trying not to be critical, I realize that she was always rushed and sometimes forgot stuff. This one particular evening, she and dad were hanging cabinets out of town and had run into a snag, I guess, but back then we didn’t have cell phones easily accessable. It was getting late and I thought my sisters might be hungry. I looked in the fridge and in the pantry, and freezer. There was for my teenage eyes nothing to eat. Hmmm. I wasn’t a cook, actually I had never cooked before up till then. It was end of January and raining out. I looked around in the cupboard for “something.’ I found a box of macaroni in the back, but what did I have to put with it. Back then we used that nasty margarine made of soy or corn oil. I found some of that….then there was a left over cheese ball with pecan pieces from Christmas that was shoved back in the fridge. Hm??? Could this work? I quickly began to pull the cheese ball apart, put the macaroni onto boil and melted the cheese and margarine together. Presto! Chango! Dinner! It wasn’t a very healthy meal, but hey, we ate lots of sugar and drank pop back then, drank out of the water hose and didn’t think a thing about. it. Now we know different. Mom and dad were late, and she had to pick up groceries on her way home. So, at least the sisters were not too hungry.
Do you plan your life? Do you plan your meals? Do you plan anything? I grew up not understanding the meaning of the word. Now, I go to the store and I make sure I have plenty of food, and sometimes overbuy because I never want to run out. However, I never really knew how to plan correctly.
If you follow people who live successful lives, you will find they do not wait till the next morning to plan. They make everything ready the night before by unplugging their devices, and wind down by reading, meditating or praying and prepare things for the next day. My days are so ordered when I plan ahead the night before.
The key is to successful planning is asking oneself “what is my destination?” What is my goal?” I have discussed goals versus habits in another segment, but this applies here too. Habits are a major part of who we want to become and how we change our behavior. We have so many things that distract us from the Lord’s ways in this world. We can plan to be a missionary, a lawyer, a doctor, a Marine, have our own business, but those plans still are wrapped up in this world Even the missionary can be a worldly goal it it isn’t birthed by the Holy Spirit inside you.
I have one plan. That I may “love the Lord with all my heart, all my soul and all my strength and my neighbor as myself.” This is what the rich young ruler told Jesus he had kept all his life. But guess what? He was still embracing the world. Then this is another goal I have: That I may know him in the power of His resurrection in the fellowship of His suffering, being conformed to his death, even his death on the cross.” Yet, I find so many things keeping me from my goals. Why? Because I do not make habits that are directed toward my goals.
I lost touch with reality a while back when my X-husband left. I’m really not sure if I ever had a very good handle on reality anyway, but his departure and the way it transpired sent my soul and emotions spinning. “How could a pastor act like that.” Then I asked myself the same question, but many years later, “how could I act like I do when I call myself a disciple of Christ?” So, be sure and judge not, lest you be not judged. Took me a long time to forgive, but forgive I did and have and continue in that forgiveness and as i bless my enemies…those that seem to not want my best interest at heart, I find myself at peace.
I guess I’m revamping my life in the next stage of my life, it just seems like it’s taken me a while to shift gears. Kids are all grown, and I don’t see them very often. I’m living alone in a camping trailer, trying to save some money for my next adventure and wondering what my life should look like in the near future.
So as I pray about my future and ponder my circumstances, mistakes and shortcomings, I believe Jesus doesn’t even look at some of these like I do. He surely laughs at the trivial way I few life. He sees the big picture…..”as far as the East is from the West;” “As the heavens are higher then the earth, so are my ways higher than yours,”
Now no one can look at the sun,
bright as it is in the skies
after the wind has swept them clean.
22 Out of the north he comes in golden splendor;
God comes in awesome majesty.
23 The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power;
in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress.
24 Therefore, people revere him,” Job 37
for does he not have regard for all the wise in heart and I’m concerning about the lawn being mowed or the broccoli getting planted. Silly me! All will be done in time. It is the human psyche and the influence of others around you that can put pressure on you to conform to their standards. Why do my potatoes have to be planted on Good Friday? They still are not planted. 🙂 They will get planted in time and if I eat potatoes or I don’t, it matters not since they have a lot of starch and carbs anyway. I mostly just peel them and boil the skins and drink the potassium rich broth.
Be at peace, and let God direct your paths and in all your ways acknowledge Him. He does have a plan. We must start listening better and asking for more direction and understanding. He will give us the nations, if we but just ask.
“But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.” James 1:6