I don't make resolutions but the New Year offers an opportunity to addess anew some ot the patterns or habits in our lives. Many believe it takes thirty days to break a habit. Assuming that is true change first requires a recognition or realization
of the need in order to begin the process.
Day One is
the day that we perform a moral inventory and decide that a habit is no
longer acceptable in our God-centered life. Self-justification is
over. We must discard our excuses and
eliminate the belief that some
intervening factor is the cause of our failings. We have decide that the process of change is
worth the pain of losing a behavior that has served us well. We have decided to accept the risk of
failure. These decisions require
extraordinary courage and commitment.
Over the
years as wives and mothers, we often allow behaviors and attitudes that are
careless, ineffective, and self-serving to become part of our interaction with
those we love. We may talk too much,
shout or scream, or argue over minor points.
Bickering, as my mother called it, is an unattractive communication pattern
that is almost universal. We also fall
into sarcasm, criticism, cruel jokes, and indifference. (Wow! I just realized
that I cannot exhaust the list of worthless communication habits in this
space.)
These
patterns are not only unproductive and unbecoming but as habits they become how we deal with one another. This may seem harmless until we
need to communicate about serious matters.
Then, when we need to solve a problem or make a decision we are encumbered
by the old pattern of engagement which diverts our energies and blocks our way
to resolution.
So, Days Two
to Thirty require not fixing ourselves but exercising a biblical principle that
will not fails us – confession and repentance – which invites the power of the Holy Spirit
to lead us to self=control. In thirty days we should on our way to
communicating as God intended.
