Today I walked my first 5k. I’ve been ‘training’ for weeks. Daily exercise – even when I didn’t feel like doing it – was key in preparing me for today.
Some days it’s difficult to get up early for my quiet time and writing. Extra time in blissful sleep is hard to resist. Putting off the start of the day just feels better. And who would know? My husband and son are still asleep.
But staying in bed doesn’t move me closer to my writing goals. Without time in the scripture and prayer, my attention wanders away from God’s plan for me and toward the world’s drama and distractions. The Holy Spirit’s quiet voice is lost in the swirl of activity.
Just as I exercised every day in order to succeed in walking today’s 5k, the daily practice of rising early and spending time in prayer before I sit at my computer to write must become a habit.
“Practice means continually doing that which no one sees or knows but us. Habit is the result of practice – by continually doing a thing it becomes second nature … We have to learn to form habits according to the dictates of the Spirit. The power and the practice must go together” (Oswald Chambers, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, God’s Character and the Believers Conduct)
Anita K Greene 