"If we would just walk humbly with our God, he would lead us by the hand to that which is just for us, made for us, intended for us, and this alone will be the cause of our deep fulfillment and happiness" (128).
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"Our lives change when our habits change" (130).
Which is absolutely true, when I think about it. When I wanted to start taking better care of my health my freshman year, it started by changing old, bad, habits, and making new, good ones. I started going to the gym, making it my goal to get there at least twice a week. I watched what I ate instead of chowing down on whatever was offered in the main line at the dining center. It was hard. Very difficult, sometimes, to change what I had ingrained in my schedule for years. I had to make time to go work out.
And it got me thinking... If I can take the time to improve my physical health, why not my spiritual health? And why not get others to hold me accountable to a prayer life, in the same way that having others exercise with me helps motivate me to go in the first place. With my exercising, I started out grudgingly. I knew that I had to change my habits, and it took time, energy, and patience.
But I started seeing results. I slept better, I had more energy during the day, and was generally less moody. I knew I was taking better care of my body, and eventually, I came to enjoy and actually desire working out. That's how I knew it was good.
Because our bodies aren't bad. God gave them to us so we could take care of them, to make them temples of His Spirit. Of course we shouldn't obsess about them, because that can lead to sin... But we are meant to care for ourselves, and to desire to glorify God through our bodies.
Well, where I was really getting to with this was how I learned to desire good habits. The 20 "highly suggested" minutes of mental prayer for FOCUS leaders started out for me as an obligation. I kept checking my time, making sure I knew how many minutes I had left... But, as with the working out, I eventually came to see that prayer could transform my life. Yes, merely twenty minutes of mental prayer, minimizing distractions, and just spending time trying to converse with the Lord has so much power.
Because once you come to love those twenty minutes, it's not enough. Even if you're not sitting somewhere in a room or chapel with a Bible sitting on your lap, you can pray. Heck, my sometimes-scary driving prompted me to pray every time before I go somewhere to form me into a safer driver and keep me compassionate when I encounter driving that I don't like. Sometimes someone's name or image pops up in my head at some point during the day and I try to remember to pray for that person.
The key is to remember, and as Matthew Kelly says, habits change lives. I forget to pray all the time. Usually, it's when I'm really busy or just being really lazy. But when I remember, I find that my days have so much more meaning. They have a purpose and a higher calling than just going through the motions of a college-student-summer-life.
So my picture for today is reflecting on yesterday's readings, and I spent some time relaxing outside the other day, enjoying God's beautiful creation : ) and noticed how gorgeous the flower petals were in my mom's garden. Not just from far away, but they seemed to be actually glittery up close, shining in the sunlight that has been far too seldom in this past week.
And since my life has actually been pretty good, lately, this verse kind of reminded me of the need to praise God not only when things are rotten, but when life is wonderful and you have the time to realize it.
"Look to him that you may be radiant with joy."
-Psalm 34:6
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