Crash the Future

Charlotte has been a thumb-sucker for most of her life. But now she is approaching 6 years of age, and we are determined to break this habit. The problem is that Charlotte has spent the vast majority of her life forming a certain way of coping with being tired, but this isn't the way that Sarah and I want her to be. We've tried a variety of different things to help her break this habit (e.g. putting socks over her hands and taping them in place as she falls asleep). However, nothing has worked as well as the regimen we just began... Tabasco Sauce... or as she and Liam call it Tobacco Sauce.

We have been putting this wonderful stuff on her thumbs the last few nights as she's fallen asleep, and it drives her nuts. In fact, she just told me, "This is the stupidest food in the world! Why would anybody eat this stupid stuff! Tobacco Sauce is gross!" So far it's working.

Here's the thing. I look at my daughter and I am realizing the power of habits. How we spend our time and order our lives sets down a pattern of life that is very difficult to break. As I look at my life I think of various habits that are my version of "thumb-sucking"... habits that I really need to break and replace with new ones. As I realize this I have to ask myself... what am I doing to make sure that I am forming the right sort of habits?

Recently I've been spending a bit of time studying spiritual disciplines... things like Scripture memorization, journaling, prayer, meditation, fasting, etc. These are things that will help me break negative habits that I have. They will also help me to rewire my mind and my life to build new habits more in accordance with God's desires. The more I spend time in prayer, talking to God... the more frequently I memorize Scripture... as I fast, training my body not to be ruled by needs and desires... I am training myself for dependence on God. And the thing is... I NEED that. I am definitely someone who struggles with maintaining a consistent relationship with God. And that only convinces me that I need to be breaking the lazy and negligent habits in my life, replacing them with those that will pull me closer to God. And hopefully God won't have to use Tabasco.