Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Character and The Second Law of Thermodynamics

I say that habit's but a long practice, friend, and this becomes men's nature in the end.
~Aristotle

Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconscious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character.
~Stephen Covey, Author of "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People"

Sow a thought, and you reap an act;
Sow an act, and you reap a habit;
Sow a habit, and you reap a character;
Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.
~Charles Reade, 1814-1884, English Writer

It is no small wonder that the Lord is pressing His thumb down firm on the pressure point called "Habit". A habit "becomes men's nature in the end". My character is "bascially a composite of" my habits and constantly express my character. "Sow a habit, and you reap a character". In other words, its not that I am what I eat, but that I am what I habitually do. Much conviction lies here.

I have been thinking about physics lately, a subject I try, almost at all costs, to avoid thinking about! Specifically, I have been thinking about The Second Law of Thermodynamics, which, in my words, states that things left to themselves will increase in entropy, or disorder. Habits, my habits, have not found themselves immune to this law. As I have become busier and busier, and have not been very intentional about my habits, many of them have succombed to that Second Law of Thermodynamics. I do believe this is why the Lord has seen fit to love me enough to press hard on that pressure point and for that, I am so thankful!

Now, I know the Lord is gracious, and that second rock in my dryer, the one I will blog on very soon, also come into play here. If you have any thoughts about habits, any thoughts at all, I would love to hear from you. How has the Lord helped you to develop good habits?

Lastly, I'll leave you with another photo! Impressive, huh?


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Most of my habits are bad ones. I don't pray, I don't read the Bible, I don't really do any encouraging in this realm with the kids either. I have certain shows that I habitually watch, and I'm terrible about exercise (which was a good habit I was in when I wasn't working). I threw work back in to the mix and now life is all off kilter...again.
All of the things I don't do above are things I don't enjoy doing, thus, why they remain undone. Knowing what is good and right doesn't do me a lick of good without the motivation to do them. Simply knowing they are the right thing, or that God wants me to do it is not enough motivation to me. I'm an extremely selfish person when it comes to my time. A bad habit to be in, for sure :)
I'll be interested to see how you make your bad habits disappear and how you reinforce good habits. You obviously have WAY more motivation to do so than I do :) Maybe some of your motivation and inspiration will rub off on me!

Anonymous said...

Well said Britt, I felt like you were speaking for me on most of those things. :)

You have got my attention on this Ericka. I'm interested to hear more. Always love the way you put things.

It has inspired me to think a little more about this. All the bad "habits" or shall I say time waster activities that I have that need to be changed. May this be a push of motivation in the right direction for me. . . . :) Thanks
Lisa