I am a creature of habit. Almost every morning I have a bowl of cereal. So you can imagine my consternation this morning to discover we were milkless. I opened the fridge only to discover an empty shelf. How can one possibly eat cereal without milk? I certainly can’t. So we had waffles. It was not at all the same; even the blueberries and sliced peaches tasted different without milk. Habits are good. Habits create stability and order in our lives. Tomorrow will be an adventure but there are some things about tomorrow that need to be the same. Cereal and milk need to be one of those same things.
Habits come in three categories. There are harmful habits, good habits and neutral habits. Educating ourselves is the key to understanding which is which. Habits can be active or passive. We can actively do something or we can neglect doing something. Probably in church one would expect to hear about the passive habits of what we don’t do. We often call them sins of omission. Most of us are not bad people as much as we are neglectful people.
It would have been grand if there had been a biographer recording Jesus’ daily activities so we could copy them. Luke 5:16 mentions one, “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” Luke 22:39 also says, “Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him.” It would seem this was very important to Him and being so for Him how much so it is for us. I have a feeling He never had a prayerless day. Going prayerless was just not an option for Him. It was His cereal and milk.
Written by Roger Bothwell on October 9, 2013
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org