First off, no Sunday School this week.
Secondly, I’m reading two good books right now: Atomic Habits by James Clear, and Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis. Lewis’ novel is an adaptation of the Greek myth of the love story between Cupid and Psyche. It’s so so so good. Plus I’m reading Roger Thomas’ copy; I inherited this when I helped cleaned out his home, and his highlights are in the book, and that is nice because Roger was a good friend of mine. I was inspired to read Till We Have Faces from our C.S. Lewis study on Wednesday nights, I’ve always wanted to read it because I know it’s much loved. I was just too lazy to do it until now!
Speaking of lazy, Atomic Habits is great. It explains very clearly what psychological studies show about human behavior and change. He argues that small (atomic level) changes will yield long term changes in who you are and your identity. We want fast and immediate change but those are almost always doomed to fail. We grow more like trees, slow and steady. I especially appreciate what he says about identity.
"Behavior that is incongruent with the self will not last.”
"What you do is an indication of the type of person you believe that you are—either consciously or nonconsciously."
"Your identity is literally your 'repeated beingness.'"
It makes me think of brother Dante and how he stressed that our desires, when twisted by sin, become vices, sins, and then our final doom. The self is something that grows slowly like treebank, and sin is like slimy mold or barnacles on a boat’s hull. No one starts out wanting to be difficult, negative, angry, or unpleasant, but over time we can become that person if we do not guard carefully our hearts, actions, and habits.
As Christians, we are constantly practicing the habits of being Christian and being like Jesus: the small things that yield, over time, great changes. That may mean
being kind to strangers
forgiving others
forgiving yourself
taking time to pray and meditate
being as Ruth Bader Ginsburg said a “little deaf” in your close relationships (meaning let some things slide so that you don’t end up fighting over something unimportant)
helping others when possible
being thankful at the end of the day
What items would you add to this list?
Sermon Schedule
02-25 Revelation and the End Times
03-03 What Is Heaven?
03-10 When did Jesus realize he was the Savior? Was He Ever Happy?