Devotional: Practice Makes Perfect

Therefore submit to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  James 4:7

     At one time in my life, I was going for long walks about 5 days a week.  However, after a foot injury, I realized one day that it had been almost 2 months since I'd gone for a walk.  Just hoofing it from the parking garage into my office set my heart to pounding and the rest of me to huffing and puffing.  This was my body's way of telling me that it was time to lace up the walking shoes and get my fanny into gear!
     So on Monday night, when the weather was cool and a soft breeze was blowing, I did just that.  I was tired after only a fraction of the distance I could formerly walk, but I pressed on.  At least I was moving again.
     On Wednesday night, I went again.  I couldn't rack up much more distance than the previous time, but I felt pretty good about following through with my Monday, Wednesday, Friday plan.
     On Friday, though, my head was turned by an invitation to join a girlfried at our favorite Mexican restaurant.  And by the end of the weekend, my MWF plan had slipped from my mind and out th edoor without so much as a creak on the floorboards.
     "So how's your walking schedule going?" I was asked a couple of weeks later.
     "Oh well, umm, not so great lately."
     The truth was, I'd forgotten all about that schedule.  With new resolve at the reminder, I hit the REFRESH button on my brain and decided to start anew.  But after a week or so, the distractions won out.
     "I don't know what my prolem is," I heard someone say on a morning talk show.  "I mean to get fit and stay active, but I just don't have the time."
     The guest was a fitness trainer, and he explained the importance of keeping a routine for at least one full month.  He purported that, after a certain amount of time of doing the same thing again and again, something clicks inside the brain and it becomes a habit - and for most people that span of time is a month.
     I remembered when my neighbor quit somking; she'd been told the same thing by her pastor.  "Resist and keep resisting until the devil flees," the pastor had said.  I supposed the same premise would hold true for forming good habits as well as destroying old ones.
     Recently, when a girlfriend called on a Wednesday night to invite me to the movies, I sang, "Resisting you, devil! I'm going for a walk."  Later we laughed at the idea that by joining me for my walk rather than crunching buttered popcorn at the movies, she was doing a little resisting on her own. 
Today's Prayer
Thank you Father, for Your Word that somehow applies to every corner of my life, in every situation.  Help me to dig deep into scripture so that I can create for myself a reservoir of promises and reminders to keep Your grace alive in my heart. In Jesus' precious name I pray, amen.