Try God Again For The First Time – Make A New Good Habit

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘(28) <God said,>”Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.  (29) He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. (30) Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; (31) but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.”’ (Isaiah 40:28-31)

Being on vacation means some old habits that developed into a daily routine are now disrupted.  My normal pattern is to get up, get into the Word, prepare a message for the Word-of-the-Day blog, and on certain days prepare an e-mail to my Life Group members and develop a Bible Study lesson for the Life Group meeting. 

There are also personal quarks in there as well; to check on various things and to go through the list of items needing accomplished and try to get at least one thing knocked off that list.  All this seems to go out the window on vacation, except the Word-of-the-Day posting.  I make it a point to ensure at least I keep up with it as I believe it is important to many who have told me so; some look forward to it to digest and in some cases comment on them.  (All comments are great, whether you like or disagree with what I post.)

Vacationing usually allows a day without an alarm clock, unless travel is in store for the day.  There are no ‘chores’ per se, as the house is miles and days away.  Any projects are on hold until we return.  When we return, the old routine usually is picked up, but with some changes.  Some of the old habits that are no longer needed are gone, but perhaps some new ones that started while on vacation (the no-alarm wake up, for example) may carry over, especially since retirement is in full swing. 

One habit forming is the periodic checking of our home while we’re away, thanks to modern technology.  I can verify the AC is still working, that the lights are turning on and off as planned, and that the cats are still awaiting our return while eating and drinking the water we put out.  Personally, it always appears they enjoy the quietness of the home while the humans are away, lounging on the couch.  (We have someone checking on them every couple of days, to top off the food and water and clean out the litter boxes.) 

This habit will likely go away upon our return home; we’ll be there and I can usually see for myself when lights need turned on or if the AC is running properly.  (If anything is not running properly, my wife ensures I know immediately.) 

Are the old habits ‘good’ or ‘bad’, and should they be reconsidered? Much of falling into bad habits is being tired or being weary.  It’s easier not to do than to do.  For example, during COVID in 2020, for almost four months, we did not meet together on Monday Nights and I did not do any lessons.  There was a good reason for this, we had the pandemic situation and it was more important to try to ensure open lines of communications with weekly call-ins and get us together a couple of times at one of our local parks.

It wasn’t a season to teach in the traditional sense but it was a season of trying to keep everyone together and informed to maintain that we were not alone or forgotten, but together.  The Word-of-the-Day is a product that came out of that; a good habit I hope provides each reader of the blog encouragement.  But it was difficult to get back into teaching after such a long layoff, as I know it was hard to get back into coming back into church, and later into class.  It is much easier not to prepare a lesson than to do one, so a bad habit (no lessons) had to be stopped and a good habit (creating lessons) had to be re-established.

Some found it difficult to get back into church, let alone getting back into Life Group.  We can break good habits (going to church every Sunday) like we can bad habits; we simply stop doing and it becomes our undoing.  I am guilty of this in many areas of my life.  Going for a walk should be something I do, it’s easier to not do than do as I’m out of the habit.  I don’t go to the gun range as it’s easier to not get packed up to go, as I’m out of the habit. 

I also understand that some may not go to church physically due to medical conditions and you are there online.  There are those, though, who may have stopped going to church and don’t watch online.  The weariness turned into a weakness, and it is no longer a habit to do, but a habit not to do.

But have Faith!  God does not grow weary or stop doing things in His Holiness.  He also does not stop loving you, nor does he give up on you.  God wants us to be encouraged to do those things that our good, and will provide us His strength to overcome our weakness, if we only ask Him.   God wants us to return to some of our old good habits and to also develop (with His help) new good habits.  My Hope is that more people – especially us Christians, follow the advice one cereal commercial used to advertise, “try God again for the first time.”   Make a new good habit, and get back into church, or if going to church, get back into a Life Group!