Habits

by Naomi
from Virtuous Daughters, November 2013~Volume 13, Number 8

Habits are an important part of life. They can be good or bad! We want to acquire good habits. But how would we get habits in the first place?

Well, some are gained when you are young. Such as brushing your teeth before bed! I’ve been doing that for a good while! Others you form when you’re older and moved up a little in life. A five-year-old wouldn’t have the same habits as an adult, or even a ten-year-old. Everybody has formed habits as they get older. One of mine I formed when I began setting the table, was to always put the plates upright, with the flowers in the right direction! To this day I still do it that way! My brother showed me how, and I’ve done it that way since.
  
Some habits you pick up from other people without even realizing it. That’s part of why associating with the right people is important. Maybe if you were from the North (or the other way around), and you went to a different part of the country, where people have a different accent, and lived there for years, you would pick up that accent. In the same way, if you are around a person who always finds the bad in people, you, without even realizing it, might find yourself doing the same!
  
It’s important to form good habits when we are young! Suppose a child has a habit of fussing for what he or she wants! When they are an adult they will probably grumble and complain to get what they want.
  
Here are some reasons it’s important to form good habits:

• When we are adults we won’t have trouble changing bad habits to good ones.
• We will begin doing that without even realizing it. So, if I had a bad habit of always scuffing my shoes when I walked, I would probably not end up even realizing I was doing it, being so used to that habit.
• We will influence other people. If we have younger siblings, they are watching us, to see what kind of an example we are. If we have a habit of being thankful, we might “rub off” on them. Just as I said earlier that we would be influenced by other people’s habits, so they will be influenced by ours.
• Perhaps the most important reason is, to glorify God. Bad habits, such as spending money unwisely, drinking, or smoking, don’t glorify God. We should gain habits that are pleasing and glorifying to God.
• Another is, the world is watching! There’s a poem that goes:

I am my neighbor’s Bible:
he reads me when we meet;
Today he reads me in my home;
tomorrow in the street.
He may be relative or friend
or slight acquaintance be;
He may not even know my name;
yet he is reading me.
Dear Christian friends and brothers,
if you could only know
How faithfully the world records
just what we say and do.
Oh, we would make our record plain,
and labor hard to see,
Our worldly neighbors won to Christ,
while reading you and me.
     ~unknown
 
The world is watching! A bad habit could be a stumbling block to some lost person.

As I said before, habits are important. Here are some good habits we should get. Some are important for our spiritual life and walk with God. Others, for our health. Still others, for our testimony, and some for our and others’ enjoyment.

• Read your Bible and pray every day!
• Wake up praising God!
• Look for the good qualities in others!
• Be pleasant!
• Cheerfully say “Good morning!”
• Find something to be thankful for in everything!
• Memorize Scripture
• Be encouraging
• Be neat!
• Do your best work—as to the Lord and not unto men
• Help out whenever there’s an opportunity

 
There are some habits we shouldn’t get. I probably don’t need to list those. Most everybody could think of some.
  
Let’s pick up good habits! And let’s always be sure they’re habits that glorify God, and that are good for us and others.
 
“Ye are our epistle...known and read of all men.”~2 Corinthians 3:2