On Habit

Habit has been in my thoughts lately. On Easter Sunday the Rev. R. Leigh Spruill preached on “Remembering the Resurrection”. He told the story of how even after a pothole is fixed, he continues to swerve his car at the very spot. After awhile things become habit; we may not even remember why we starting doing it in the first place.But what if our habits are misplaced?

I’ve just started James K. A. Smith’s new book, You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit and he opens with the question that Jesus asked, “What do you want?”Smith continues, “To be human is to be on the move, pursuing something, after something….We are not just static containers for ideas; we are dynamic creatures directed towards some end.” As Smith and others explain, we all worship something whether it be a higher power, a love of power, or the acquisition of more things. As humans, we must have an idol that fulfills our need to be pursuing something, anything. We