Tag: habit

 

YOU KNOW, I’VE NEVER CONSIDERED MYSELF TO BE MECHANICALLY MINDED. YES, I’VE WIRED PLUGS AND CHANGED THE OIL IN MY CAR BUT WHENEVER IT CAME TO MORE COMPLICATED REPAIRS – LIKE FIXING BROKEN WATER PIPES OR RENEWING BRAKE PADS  – I QUICKLY CALLED THE EXPERTS. BUT THAT CHANGED ABOUT FIFTEEN YEARS AGO WHEN ONE DAY I WATCHED MY FATHER-IN-LAW REPAIR HIS LAWNMOWER. I SAID TO HIM “WOW, YOU ARE SO GOOD AT REPAIRING THINGS. I’VE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO DO THAT.” IN HIS USUAL FORTHRIGHT MANNER, HE SHOT BACK AND SAID, “THAT’S BECAUSE YOU DON’T TAKE THE TIME.”

HIS WORDS ACTUALLY CHANGED MY THINKING. 

NOW, WHENEVER I ENCOUNTER A PROBLEM – WHETHER IT IS MY CAR OR MY LAWNMOWER OR WHATEVER, I TRY TO TAKE THE TIME TO THINK ABOUT IT AND MAKE THE EFFORT TO DO MY BEST TO SOLVE IT – AND YOU KNOW WHAT –  IT OFTEN WORKS! BUT OVER THE YEARS I HAVE LEARNT THAT THIS APPROACH IS NOT ONLY APPLICABLE TO REPAIRING PIPES, CARS OR LAWNMOWERS – TOO OFTEN WE DON’T TAKE THE TIME TO SOLVE MANY OF LIFE’S CHALLENGES – LIKE BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS AND DOING SOMETHING WELL OR CAREFULLY.  

YOU MAY RECOGNISE THE SONG IN THE BACKGROUND. IT’S ONE OF MY FAVOURITES FROM THE 60’S BY PERCY SLEDGE CALLED “TAKE TIME TO KNOW HER”. IT’S ABOUT A YOUNG MAN WHO CAN’T WAIT TO GET MARRIED TO HIS GIRLFRIEND BUT HIS MOTHER PLEADS WITH HIM “SON, TAKE TIME TO KNOW HER. IT’S NOT AN OVERNIGHT THING. TAKE TIME TO KNOW HER. PLEASE, DON’T RUSH INTO THIS THING.” BUT HE DOESN’T LISTEN TO HER AND GETS MARRIED. AND THEN HE – AS THE SONG GOES “CAME HOME A LITTLE EARLY ONE NIGHT….” NO PRIZES FOR GUESSING WHAT HAPPENED!  

A WISE MAN ONCE WROTE; “ONE OF THE TRAGIC CASUALTIES OF OUR AGE HAS BEEN THAT OF THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE—A LIFE THAT THINKS, THINKS THINGS THROUGH…. A PERSON SITTING AT HIS DESK AND STARING OUT OF THE WINDOW WOULD NEVER BE ASSUMED TO BE WORKING. NO! THINKING IS NOT EQUATED WITH WORK. YET, HAD NEWTON UNDER HIS TREE, OR ARCHIMEDES IN HIS BATHTUB BOUGHT INTO THAT PREJUDICE, SOME NATURAL LAWS WOULD STILL BE UP IN THE AIR, OR BURIED UNDER AN IMMOVABLE ROCK.”¹

BUT YOU KNOW THIS IS NOT NEW ADVICE! KING SOLOMON WAS SAID TO BE THE WISEST MAN WHO EVER LIVED AND HE WROTE A BOOK CALLED PROVERBS AND IT’S A REAL GOLD MINE OF WISDOM. LISTEN TO SOME OF HIS GOLD NUGGETS ABOUT THIS SUBJECT OF TAKING THE TIME. FOR EXAMPLE, IN PROVERBS 21 HE ADVISES: “BRILLIANT IDEAS PAY OFF AND BRING YOU PROSPERITY, BUT MAKING HASTY, IMPATIENT DECISIONS WILL ONLY LEAD TO FINANCIAL LOSS.” AND YOU KNOW WHAT? SOLOMON EVEN INSTRUCTS US TO STOP WHAT WE ARE DOING, BEND DOWN AND “CONSIDER THE WAYS” OF THE TINY, HARD WORKING ANT (PROVERBS 6:6). THE WORD “CONSIDER” MEANS TO CONTINUALLY TURN SOMETHING OVER IN YOUR MIND AND IN SO DOING YOU BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND. ACTUALLY THIS WORD “CONSIDER” WAS USED OF ANCIENT ASTRONOMERS TO DESCRIBE WHAT THEY DID TO SEEK AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE UNIVERSE. DO YOU KNOW WHAT THEY WOULD DO? THEY WOULD LIE ON THEIR BACKS IN A FIELD ALL NIGHT AND “CONSIDER” THE HEAVENS AS IT UNFOLDED  BEFORE THEM IN THOUSANDS OF SMALL DOTS OF LIGHT.

YOU KNOW, NOTHING RANKS HIGHER FOR MENTAL DISCIPLINE THAN REGULAR STUDY OF GOD’S WORD, BUT HAVE YOU GIVEN UP READING THE BIBLE BECAUSE YOU FIND IT BORING, IRRELEVANT OR TOO DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND? DO YOU RUSH THROUGH YOUR BIBLE STUDY?

THE GREAT ENGLISH PREACHER CHARLES SPURGEON WROTE – ABOUT 150 YEARS AGO – ; “FIX YOUR THOUGHTS UPON SOME TEXT OF SCRIPTURE BEFORE YOU LEAVE YOUR BEDROOM IN THE MORNING—IT WILL SWEETEN YOUR MEDITATION ALL THE DAY. ALWAYS LOOK GOD IN THE FACE BEFORE YOU SEE THE FACE OF ANYONE ELSE. LOCK UP YOUR HEART IN THE MORNING AND HAND THE KEY TO GOD AND KEEP THE WORLD OUT OF YOUR HEART. TAKE A TEXT AND LAY IT ON YOUR TONGUE LIKE A WAFER MADE WITH HONEY AND LET IT MELT IN YOUR MOUTH ALL DAY. … YOU WILL BE SURPRISED TO NOTICE HOW THE VARIOUS EVENTS OF LIFE WILL HELP TO OPEN UP THAT TEXT…. LET YOUR SOUL BE SO FULL OF THE WORD OF GOD THAT AT ALL THE INTERVALS AND SPACES WHEN YOU CAN THINK UPON IT, THE WORD OF GOD DWELLING IN YOU RICHLY MAY COME WELLING UP INTO YOUR MIND AND MAKE YOUR MEDITATION TO BE SWEET AND PROFITABLE.”

IF BECAUSE YOU HAVE MADE THE TIME AND TAKEN THE TIME TO FOCUS ON A VERSE IN THE BIBLE IN THE MORNING IT WILL HAVE A POSITIVE IMPACT ON THE WAY YOU HANDLE DAILY CHALLENGES. 

IN 2 TIMOTHY 3:16 WE READ THAT THE SCRIPTURES ARE “GOD-BREATHED” AS YOU READ, GOD IS COMMUNICATING WITH YOU PERSONALLY. SO AS YOU MAKE TIME TO READ THE SCRIPTURES – EVEN IF ITS JUST FOR A SHORT WHILE – ASK QUESTIONS LIKE, “LORD, WHAT ARE YOU SAYING TO ME TODAY, LORD?” OR  “IS THERE SOMETHING IN YOUR WORDS THAT I NEED TO SEE THAT I’M NOT SEEING?” THE BIBLE IS A PRECIOUS GIFT, “BUT” AS EUGENE PETERSON ONCE SAID “ONLY IF THE WORDS ARE ASSIMILATED, TAKEN INTO THE SOUL – EATEN, CHEWED, GNAWED AND RECEIVED IN UNHURRIED DELIGHT.”²

SO MAKING THE TIME, TAKING THE TIME IS A LIFE TRANSFORMING HABIT.

OK THERE’S MUCH MORE TO SAY ABOUT THIS LIFE-CHANGING SUBJECT. BUT I NEED TO CONCLUDE. MY NEIGHBOUR HAS JUST CALLED TO ASK ME IF I HAVE SOME TIME TO HELP HIM REPAIR HIS LAWNMOWER…. 

SO UNTIL NEXT TIME, THIS IS GG

This article is generously submitted by GG to whom we are indebted for sharing his God-given wisdom and encouragement. 

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