This is part 4 of a 5-part series. View the entire series here.
“Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray.” – Mark 1:35 NLT
Throughout the gospels, we see how often Jesus set aside time to pray. He’d wake early, find a quiet spot, and speak with His Father. After a busy day of healing or preaching, He’d leave His disciples and the crowds that seemed to follow Him everywhere, and get alone with His father.
We could say that Jesus was in the habit of prayer.
Habits give structure and intention to our day-to-day lives. They keep us focused and healthy. They also help us achieve our longer term goals, because they remind us that we’re not doing these things for empty purposes—there’s something valuable we’re working toward.
Don’t Overshoot Right Away
When we’re starting to build habits, sometimes the temptation is to look at our lives—everything we’re dissatisfied with, all the things we think we need to improve on—and try to change everything all at once. Tomorrow I’ll fix my entire life, we think. We decide we’re going to wake up at 5 a.m., go for a five-mile run, cook a healthy, homemade breakfast, and sit down and plan out our day. Motivation is high, and it all sounds perfectly doable.
But then we wake up exhausted the next morning, and we push snooze on our alarms…and we tell ourselves, well, I’ll just start tomorrow.
The problem isn’t that we’re incapable of being disciplined or following through, the problem is we’re trying to eat the entire elephant in one bite—and when we realize that’s impossible (or at the very least, extremely unrealistic), we get discouraged and give up on the whole thing.
What we should do instead is establish reasonable, realistic habits for ourselves that are in line with where we actually are, not where we want to eventually end up. For example, if you typically wake up at 9 a.m., don’t tell yourself you’re going to wake up at 5 a.m. Start smaller. Wake up at 7:45 for a couple weeks, then bump it to 7, then 6:30, and so on.
There’s absolutely no shame in starting slow! Eventually, you’ll get to that desired 5 a.m. wake-up time. But a habit is much more likely to stick if you focus first on building up your resilience—which leads to our next point. Consistency.
Consistency Is Key
When you set habits for yourself, the most important thing you can do is stick to them. It’s hard at first, especially if the habit is something you’ve never incorporated into your life before, like waking up earlier or reading your Bible every day. But the longer you stick to it, the easier it will become—until it’s so second nature that it feels like a regular part of your routine.
Have Grace for Yourself
There are going to be days when you fail, so don’t hold yourself to a standard of perfection. When you’re sick and need extra rest, when you have a particularly busy week and you miss a couple days of reading your Bible, don’t beat yourself up. Just keep showing up, day after day. Keep tying your tennis shoes and hitting the pavement, even when it’s cold outside. Keep flossing, even when it’s the last thing in the entire world you want to do. Keep praying.
Even if you don’t see any transformation (internal or external), be reassured that transformation is taking place. Not only are you making healthy life choices, but you’re also learning discipline in small things, which will carry over into discipline in big things.
