Strong Habits

As December turned into January, I was ready for a new book and had heard so much about Atomic habits, that I had to give it a go. Turns out it was the perfect way to start a new year and help me to set up some good habits to start the year strong. Habits are a great tool to work with our brains and muscle memory to accomplish lots of things without exhausting decision fatigue, forgetting until the end of the day, or in order to build new skills.

I’ve learnt so much and been able to implement some things already like using coffee (which I love) to get out of bed early (which I don’t love) to do my Bible reading time before work (the habit I am building). There are so many other good, wholesome, Godly things that I want to keep working on implementing in a sustainable way, but often when it actually comes to doing the thing like a workout on my lunch break or remembering to pray while I make my coffee, I either forget or find something else to distract me and then the time has gone without me noticing. My heart is willing and motivated but my mind and body just aren’t in sync.

Romans 7:22-25 says "For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!" So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. While a lot of these habits are much more trivial than what Paul is referencing here in Romans 7, it is a very relatable concept that we have part of us that is delighting in God’s law and His best for our lives, and part of us that is our selfishness and sin that focuses on what feels best right now. But the encouraging thing is that we have immediate and direct access to God’s grace and help and we know that He loves and cares for us. Which means that He cares for the little habits of our lives too. He knows that eating well and exercising is good for us and allows us to better be energised for His kingdom work so if making healthy choices is a habit that we want to build, we can call on Him to help us when we are choosing what to buy at the grocery store and get us in our gym clothes ready for a workout. Something doesn’t have to be direct Godly ministry or time with Him for Him to help us make good choices for our lives. And it’s often times in these everyday, seemingly insignificant habits and life choices that God can actually grow us in spiritual disciplines like perseverance, patience and self control. So don’t keep God out of building your habits and try to do it on your own. We need His help if we are to truly build strong habits.

But bringing God into our habits is not just a matter of “God this is my plan, please help me with it” but rather “God what is your plan for me to grow me in this area?”. Again, if it’s fitness that you want to grow in, before you sign up to anything, pray about it. Ask God to help you be in the right headspace about it and whether this is something that He is calling you to focus on in this season. Being healthy is always a good focus, but sometimes there are big life stages where being present is more important than being muscular. So surrender the goal to Him and once you’ve checked your heart and get the green light, then ask Him how to accomplish that. Whether it’s a daily 30 min walk outside that’s free or a gym membership or an online course or anything else, He is interested in the details and will help us figure out the best option for us in this season. This is definitely something I need to do a bit more – I have the tendency to act first and pray later, but I want to get better at praying first and giving God (and sometimes my darling husband!) a chance to weigh in before I jump onto my next idea.

While we’re on habits, I didn’t want to finish this topic before talking about a potential trap with our habits. The downfall of habits is that sometimes actions can become so automated that they lose their spark. For example, doing a 365 day reading plan that becomes a habit is amazing because you are getting the Bible into your heart every day, but it can become a checklist item that your heart and mind don’t always connect into. This habit needs the intentionality to go alongside the discipline where we consciously choose to ask the Holy Spirit to speak to us and put aside our phones and distractions so that you can invest into and actually receive from your time with Jesus. So when we’re figuring out habits, knowing which ones can be autopiloted and which ones need intentionality is key to strong habits.

To help you and I with our habits, I've created a free, God focused printable habit tracker for us to pick just a few, sustainable habits to build and be accountable together for. Available in 4 colours here https://www.belle-1thes511.com/product-page/strong-habits-printable-habit-tracker-pink.

I pray that this post and this habit resource is encouraging for you as we work with God to become stronger in the things that He wants us to do this year.