One Month In

In ATale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens tells the story of a physician who was imprisoned in a French penitentiary for twenty years. Unable to practice medicine, he took up shoe cobbling while incarcerated, making and fixing shoes for his fellow inmates. For twenty years, he could be heard working in his cell late at night, tapping away, repairing the shoes of prisoners.

Finally, he was set free to go home and return to medicine. But, the doctor could not handle the change to his new freedom. Returning home, he built a room in his attic identical in size to his prison cell. From then on until his death, neighbors could hear him tapping away, making and repairing shoes late at night, never to return to medicine.

We are creatures of habit, which is a good thing. It enables us to be far more productive. If we had to think through everything we do daily, we would get little done. The vast majority of things that we do, we do on autopilot. I’m not thinking at all about the locations of the keys on this keyboard as I am typing. If I did, this blog would take me hours to finish. While thinking through ideas and doing research for what I write may take a fair amount of time, typing it takes only a few minutes. I’m typing by way of habit and muscle memory. It’s how most of our accomplishments in life are achieved. We do the busy work by habit, freeing our minds and creative processes to function efficiently.

It’s been one month now since you set out to establish new habits. It takes 6-8 weeks for a new habit to become ingrained. How’s it going? Still reading the Bible and/or listening to Between the Lines every day? Still getting on your knees to pray every morning? Still working out?

If you fell off the wagon, get back on! Falling doesn’t make you a failure; quitting does! So get back to it! Renew your commitment. Settle into your new habits. Your new life awaits.

Changing habits is hard. In Romans, Paul told the believers to consider their old way of living to be dead, and their new way of living to be life. He said, “You also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:11). Change starts in the mind, and then it has to be put to action with daily practice until new habits become a new lifestyle. You can do this with God’s help! It’s not about trying harder, it’s about training better.

So, what New Year’s resolutions of yours need to be renewed now that we’re one month in?