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                  Ponder this..... November 12, 2007

You ARE and WILL become the product of your habits!

In our previous issue of Ponder this, we asked............

Question:   So what do 15 minutes, Taking out the Trash and Doing Your Own Dishes have to do with each other?

Answer:  They are all about habits.  That's right ---- habits.  

We examined the first three of six habits that can greatly impact your life....  that is, if they become your habits!  If you missed the first three habits of 15 Minutes, Take out the Trash and Do Your Own Dishes,  check out the Ponder This Archives to read the entire article about the first three life changing habits.  Remember --- you are and will become the product of your habits!  Here are the final three life changing habits.

Habit #4 --- Write it down!

This habit deals with the principle of clarity.  Many say that nothing is clear until you write it down.  Putting things in writing allows one to reflect on an issue, usually creating better understanding.   Proverbs 20:5 says, 'A plan in the heart of a man is like deep water, but a man of understanding draws it out.'  Writing it down helps to draw it out.  Writing it down helps to create clear cut objectives. 

What should you write down?

Well first of all -- how about a calendar.   Probably about half of high school students keep their own calendar of events -- logging when, where and what is going on in their life.  Perhaps 40% of high school students have their mothers keep their calendar.  The remaining 10% of high school students probably have no blooming idea when and where they should be and are often the ones consistently late or absent from activities as they freely admit absence of a calendar in their life.  A calendar helps to organize your life --- actually I consider a calendar to give me the freedom of structure.   As I place dates and times on my calendar --- it allows me to priortize my agenda and even decide if I am or can even do certain events.   

"To Do" lists is another way of Writing it Down.   "To Do" lists helps with the necessity of focus --- not just listing "things" we must or need to do, but To Do lists allow us to prioritize and give order to the "things that need or should be done".  Journaling is also an essential part of writing it down.  Journaling on a daily basis allows me time to reflect on the day, to think about what I did right, on areas where I blew it and to remember things that fell totally off my radar screen.   Journaling allows me to reflect on my dreams, my wants and my fears.  Journaling --- writing it down --- will help you to focus your thoughts, your feelings, your heart and your actions.

Although calendars, to do lists and daily journaling are essential tools to help organize and focus one's life --- we need to talk a moment about DOING versus BEING.  Our lives are filled, perhaps overfilled, with busyness.  Today, teenagers are overbooked with school, projects, sports, dance and theater, rehearsals, dating and text messaging to the extent that many teens don't have the time to relax and unwind.  Today's teens are over-booked and over-programmed. Teens have huge pressures of grades, SAT scores and college admissions.  An end result is that teens are so wrapped up in doing this and doing that........ they are consummed in DOING rather than who we are becoming.

Perhaps an essential question of life is --- TO DO or TO BE?

Sure we ask ourselves what do we need to do next? But are you asking yourself the questions........

Who do you want to be?  Who are you becoming? Where are you going?    Where do you want to go? What is truly important in life?

What type of man, woman, father, mother, student, person do you want to be?  How do you get there?

Write it down ---- calendars, To Do lists and Journals are vital habits!  But don't forget to write down and plug-in the TO BE's!

Habit #5 --- Do it Now!

Do you realize why many things never get done? Often it's because they never get started. 

This habit deals with the principle of inertia.  Proverbs 24:30-34 gives some interesting insight.  "I passed by the field of the sluggard, and by the vineyard of the man lacking sense.  And behold, it was completely overgrown with thistles, its surface was covered with nettles and its stone wall was broken down.  When I saw, I reflect upon it; I looked and received instruction. 'A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest'. Then your poverty will come as a robber and your want like an armed man.

So this scripture is talking about a lazy person who has let their home and property go to shambles.  The stone wall around the property is falling apart and the yard is covered with weeds and dandelions.   Obviously no time is being spent on upkeep..... the owner has probably been saying, "I'll do it tomorrow.....".   But we know that tomorrow never comes --- as the song tells us, tomorrow is always one day away.  Further the scripture tells us that the lazy person will take a nap to rest.... to get rested so they can begin something.... but they never begin. Sometime. Somewhere. Some how.   All choices have consequences and the consequence of putting it off is that it never gets done.  This proverb talks about a property that is in shambles because of neglect.   An analogy can be drawn to a person's life because of neglect. Think about it.

How many times have you received a report, a paper or project that is due in say two weeks.  That seems like years from now .... and then what happens the night before the paper or report is due?  Of course ---- it's a late, late night and we scurry about trying to get it done.   Think further about what you do when you get discouraged or overburdened with everything you gotta get done.  What do you do?  Eat? Watch TV?  Eat and watch TV?   Think about it.  These have become your habit patterns when you get stressed, discouraged or overburdened.  Remember that habits are actions that we do automatically without even thinking about them.  You become that person everytime you get discouraged or overburdened.   Habit #5 is about not putting it off to another day..... start it now. Do it now!

Habit #6 --- Turn it off!

This is the last of six habits that can change your life..... but eventhough it's last, it is every bit as important as 15 minutes a day!

Turn it off deals with the principle of restoration.  This habit deals with honoring the Sabbath day.  This habit deals with what we have probably totally forgotten in our life. 

When I was a teenager (yes there was electricity and automobiles) retail stores were not open on Sunday.  You didn't go shopping on Sundays, you didn't buy groceries on Sunday. Stores were closed.  Sundays was a day for church and spending time together as a family.  I realize that concept is hard for many teenagers to even imagine.  We didn't have school sporting events or practices .... school buildings were closed and locked............. Sunday was sacred time for families.

Today, in the busyness of our lives, we go and go and go seven days a week.  We're so busy that many times we "have to skip church" because we have too many things to do.  Genesis 1 tells us that God created the earth and everything on it in six days and rested on the seventh day. God created the Sabbath day. Work for six --- rest for one!  But God didn't create a Sabbath day because He was tired ---- God never gets tired.  God created humanity and God knew that humanity needed to have a day of rest. God knew that humanity needed a Sabbath day to be restored, to be renewed, to be refueled.    In New Testament days, the legalists of the day questioned and challenged Jesus asking him about the Sabbath, quizzing him about what should be done if an ox would fall into a ditch on a Sunday.  Jesus told them he would save the ox and get it out of the ditch.   Jesus healed people on the Sabbath day. The legalists that it was terrible because Jesus "disobeyed" the Sabbath --- but the legalists failed to see the miracles that Jesus performed.  The point is this--- we don't need to be legalists ourselves.   Some people are required to work on Sundays.  For those of us in ministry, Sundays is a work day.  Hospitals and unfortunately, retail stores are staffed on Sundays.  But here's the gig --- Honor the Sabbath principle.   Work six days and rest one.  If Sunday can not be your Sabbath day --- make anyday your Sabbath........ but make one day a week a Sabbath Day for restoration, for renewal, for refueling.  I challenge each teenager to sit down with their family and talk it over and decide how their family can honor the God given Sabbath principle.  Turn it off. Turn off your cell phone. Turn off your lap top.  Many teens have parents that work seven days a week with their laptop computer connected to the office.  Companies love this....... employees always working.  Turn it off.

The Sabbath is a faith issue.  Jesus told us that the Sabbath is a gift to humanity.  Stop your busyness. Turn it off. Enjoy great moments with your family and loved ones.  No one has ever recorded a man or woman who from their death bed, exclaimed that they wish they had spent more time at the office.... that they should have done more homework..... that they should have.....

But many people express their regrets for not spending more time with family, loved ones, with spending more time BEING rather than doing.  Have you ever seen a u-haul trailer being pulled at the back of a hearse on the way to a cemetary?  Of course not.  Life is not about stuff.   Life is not a dress rehearsal...... everyday is the real thing.  Honor the Sabbath principle --- honor a Sabbath day every week of your life.  Habit #6 --- Restore - renew - refresh - refuel.

15 Minutes --- Taking out Your Trash --- Doing Your Own Dishes

Write it down --- Do it NOW! --- Turn it off!

Again my friends --- habits are very powerful things --- bad habits can produce unbelievable pain and good habits can create lasting blessings.   You ARE and WILL BECOME the product of your habits. 

Great Christians DEVELOP great habits.  Great Christians are like Oak Trees not weeds.    Oak Trees take a long time to grow.  Oak trees are huge trees with deep roots and they withstand huge storms that blow through town.  Weeds grow fast but they wither quickly when they lack water and perfect growing conditions.    Becoming a great Christian takes purpose.  Becoming a great Christian takes intentionality.  Becoming a great Christian takes discipline.  Becoming a great Christian comes from God's grace.  Becoming a great Christian is a huge investment in yourself.

So what's it going to be for you?  A weed or a huge, strong Oak tree?

It's your choice.....