Habits

Habits can be a good thing....or a bad thing. I have several that fall in both categories. I am currently in the habit of waking up early every morning, exercising, and then spending some time with my devotions. I then take my shower and get the kids up. I do everything in the same order....and essentially at the same time each day. My mom use to tell me that she could set her clock by what I was doing in the morning. Routines....or habits...can be a very good thing.

I also have the habit of spending time on the computer. I really enjoy being on the computer for the first hour or so after I drop the kids off from school. I also like to peek at the computer at lunch time. It can be so addicting....especially when I am feeling a little lonely.

My kids have habits, too. Daria takes a bath every morning.....while she watches TV before school. The first thing that Caden does when he gets home from school is to jump out of the van and run straight up to my room. He turns on the TV, dives under the covers, and pulls out his leftover snacks from school. If I am not quick enough with their after-school snacks....yikes....it ain't pretty. Luke has the lovely habit of running around the house naked. His dad tries to get him to at least wear underwear. I keep hoping that this habit will fade away as the cold sets in. The last couple of days, his stints of nakedness have been a little shorter lived than previously. He says he likes the cold. Whatever.

Right now, I am struggling with the ugly habits that are mulling around our household. Daria and Caden are developing the lovely habit of picking on each other. It has been pretty ugly in here the last couple of days. When I asked Daria why she just couldn't be nice to her brothers, her response was: "Well...you haven't taught us!" Oh my....I was really seeing red then. It seems like we have been talking non-stop about it. Not sure what else to do. Drives me batty.

Once again, here I have typed for a while, and I really feel like I have no purpose to my writing. I get so frustrated sometimes with the way things are. It is so easy to fall in to the habit of responding a certain way. Even when we are confronted with the not-so-niceness of it, we have a hard time walking away from it. If anyone wants to claim themselves strong, I bet I can find a habit that shows how weak they really are.

As for my house, we need a lot of grace tonight...this week....this month. We just haven't been very pretty to one another. We need that grace to create new habits....new ways of loving each other. Family is those we are most comfortable with....where we receive the most love and acceptance. Family is also the ones that we abuse the most. Why is that?

My final thought right now.....how long until bed time?