It's the new year. Time to make some resolutions to live life more fully and intentionally! Jesus said he came that we might enjoy a deep relationship with God and have abundant life.
It's that time of year when people are making resolutions or trying to get their life in better shape. Something that can be really helpful for helping get our spiritual lives in better shape is a habit tracker.
Habit trackers can be useful to our spiritual lives in two ways.
If we need help with self-discipline in our prayer lives or Christian living a habit tracker can be a great accountability partner. They say it takes three or four weeks to develop a habit. It can be difficult to stay faithful to setting aside time for prayer each day. For people who struggle with sticking with reading the Bible or praying every day, a habit tracker might help them stick at it long enough for it to become a habit.
Others might already be in the habit of reading the Bible and praying each day but they might feel there is something else God is encouraging them to get into the habit of such as reading a bit of a Christian book each day or having some silent prayer time each day or putting their phone away at a certain time each evening.
Whatever the habit you feel God encouraging you to grow in, a habit tracker might be really useful. A lot of the transformation in our lives requires prayer and dependence on God, and our own attempts to respond to God. In most things we need a combination of God's help and our own effort.
Habit trackers can help us develop new habits or they can keep us accountable to staying faithful to something day in day out. They also have another use.
Most of us don't have the kinds of lives that can be neatly timetabled like a monk or nun's life. Their days allow them to fit in Bible reading, prayer, exercise, fun, Christian reading etc at set times. For those of us who would like to do some of those things every day, a habit tracker can be a great friend. We can put on the habit tracker the things we'd like to do a bit of each day, then without a timetabled life we can seek to do each of those things at some point in the day then tick them off. The habit tracker can help us live a balanced life where we don't have a timetable but we commit to a pattern that at some point in the day we read the Bible, and at some point in the day we spend some time in prayer, and at some point in the day we read a bit of a Christian book, at some point we go for a walk or sit in silence, at some point in the day we make sure to give ourselves a proper rest or do something we really enjoy etc. Whatever it is that you want to make sure you do at some point in the day you can put it on your habit tracker.
Many spiritual writers stress the importance of faithfulness to prayer times day in day out. Balanced days with times for prayer, rest, conversation, silence, exercise and fun are also extremely important to our wellbeing and growth. Habit trackers can help with both of these things. You can either create your own tracker as in the photo above or you can download one of the many habit tracker apps out there.
Remember, though, that this is far more than ticks and self improvement. This is about growing in relationship with a loving God and growing into the fullness of life that Jesus is inviting us to. It's not about boxes to tick. It's about a Person to encounter. The boxes just keep us accountable to giving space to meeting up with Him!
Is there a habit you currently feel God is asking you to grow in?
What are the few things you feel God encouraging you to make sure are part of your daily life?
How balanced is your life in terms of prayer, spiritual reading, being with others, silence, rest, exercise and fun?