{"id":61016,"date":"2023-12-07T01:09:32","date_gmt":"2023-12-07T06:09:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/?p=61016"},"modified":"2023-12-04T12:15:19","modified_gmt":"2023-12-04T17:15:19","slug":"creatures-of-habit-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2023\/12\/07\/creatures-of-habit-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Creatures of Habit"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2023\/12\/thumbnail_20231203_193754.jpeg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-61019\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2023\/12\/thumbnail_20231203_193754.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"640\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>CREATURES OF HABIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Creatures of habit,<\/p>\n<p>Day after day<\/p>\n<p>Go about life,<\/p>\n<p>The same old way.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Nothing disturbs<\/p>\n<p>Their orderly routine<\/p>\n<p>All must be neat,<\/p>\n<p>And all must be clean.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019re making their lists<\/p>\n<p>And checking them twice,<\/p>\n<p>Trying to make sure<\/p>\n<p>Their work will suffice.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Impatient by nature<\/p>\n<p>They don\u2019t suffer fools<\/p>\n<p>Gladly or otherwise<\/p>\n<p>Because of the rules.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A place for everything<\/p>\n<p>For all there\u2019s a place<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t touch the guest towels<\/p>\n<p>But please wash your face.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>They insist on living<\/p>\n<p>Orderly lives,<\/p>\n<p>And of course only marry<\/p>\n<p>Orderly wives.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Their homes antiseptic<\/p>\n<p>Their cars always clean,<\/p>\n<p>Their food always healthy<\/p>\n<p>Their meat always lean.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Like ants in an ant hill,<\/p>\n<p>Repeating their tasks<\/p>\n<p>Rest in repetition<\/p>\n<p>Ignore the mask.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Chaos is forbidden<\/p>\n<p>Experiment absurd<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t ask for creative<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t mention the word.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Creatures of habit,<\/p>\n<p>By whose design?<\/p>\n<p>Is this just human,<\/p>\n<p>Or is it divine?<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>What if we found<\/p>\n<p>That ordering our sphere,<\/p>\n<p>Is just a misnomer<\/p>\n<p>For controlling our fear?<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Fear of the truth,<\/p>\n<p>Fear of falling<\/p>\n<p>Fear of the unknown,<\/p>\n<p>Fear of our calling<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Fearing to let go,<\/p>\n<p>Fearing to try,<\/p>\n<p>Fearing to live,<\/p>\n<p>And fearing to die.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps if we surrender<\/p>\n<p>Control of our lives,<\/p>\n<p>And offer ourselves<\/p>\n<p>To all seeing eyes<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019d find a new freedom<\/p>\n<p>Though not out of bounds<\/p>\n<p>For when he controls us<\/p>\n<p>The order\u2019s profound.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Let go of the death grip,<\/p>\n<p>You have on your life<\/p>\n<p>Inhibit your habits<\/p>\n<p>Without artifice.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Accept serendipity,<\/p>\n<p>Free by design<\/p>\n<p>Eat the new manna<\/p>\n<p>Drink the new wine.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Come to the manger<\/p>\n<p>Kneel at the throne<\/p>\n<p>Realize your ruler<\/p>\n<p>Won\u2019t leave you alone.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Celebrate Christmas<\/p>\n<p>Deliverance declare<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019re freed to inhabit<\/p>\n<p>A creature\u2019s full share.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CREATURES OF HABIT \u00a0 Creatures of habit, Day after day Go about life, The same old way. \u00a0 Nothing disturbs Their orderly routine All must be neat, And all must be clean. \u00a0 They\u2019re making their lists And checking them twice, Trying to make sure Their work will suffice. \u00a0 Impatient by nature They don\u2019t [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":61019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[13991],"class_list":["post-61016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-o-tannebaum"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Creatures of Habit<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"CREATURES OF HABIT &nbsp; Creatures of habit, Day after day Go about life, The same old way. &nbsp; Nothing disturbs Their orderly routine All must be\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Creatures of Habit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"CREATURES OF HABIT &nbsp; Creatures of habit, Day after day Go about life, The same old way. &nbsp; Nothing disturbs Their orderly routine All must be\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2023\/12\/07\/creatures-of-habit-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bible and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-07T06:09:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-04T17:15:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2023\/12\/thumbnail_20231203_193754.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ben Witherington\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ben Witherington\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2023\/12\/07\/creatures-of-habit-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2023\/12\/07\/creatures-of-habit-2\/\",\"name\":\"Creatures of Habit\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-07T06:09:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-04T17:15:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/67da39aff728f9d015878d198839df4b\"},\"description\":\"CREATURES OF HABIT &nbsp; 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