![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2024\/12\/thumbnail_20240626_134501-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nCREATURES OF HABIT<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Creatures of habit,<\/p>\n
Day after day<\/p>\n
Go about life,<\/p>\n
The same old way.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nothing disturbs<\/p>\n
Their orderly routine<\/p>\n
All must be neat,<\/p>\n
And all must be clean.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
They\u2019re making their lists<\/p>\n
And checking them twice,<\/p>\n
Trying to make sure<\/p>\n
Their work will suffice.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Impatient by nature<\/p>\n
They don\u2019t suffer fools<\/p>\n
Gladly or otherwise<\/p>\n
Because of the rules.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
A place for everything<\/p>\n
For all there\u2019s a place<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t touch the guest towels<\/p>\n
But please wash your face.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
They insist on living<\/p>\n
Orderly lives,<\/p>\n
And of course only marry<\/p>\n
Orderly wives.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Their homes antiseptic<\/p>\n
Their cars always clean,<\/p>\n
Their food always healthy<\/p>\n
Their meat always lean.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Like ants in an ant hill,<\/p>\n
Repeating their tasks<\/p>\n
Rest in repetition<\/p>\n
Ignore the mask.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chaos is forbidden<\/p>\n
Experiment absurd<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t ask for creative<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t mention the word.<\/p>\n
Creatures of habit,<\/p>\n
By whose design?<\/p>\n
Is this just human,<\/p>\n
Or is it divine?<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
What if we found<\/p>\n
That ordering our sphere,<\/p>\n
Is just a misnomer<\/p>\n
For controlling our fear?<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fear of the truth,<\/p>\n
Fear of falling<\/p>\n
Fear of the unknown,<\/p>\n
Fear of our calling<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fearing to let go,<\/p>\n
Fearing to try,<\/p>\n
Fearing to live,<\/p>\n
And fearing to die.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Perhaps if we surrender<\/p>\n
Control of our lives,<\/p>\n
And offer ourselves<\/p>\n
To all seeing eyes<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
We\u2019d find a new freedom<\/p>\n
Though not out of bounds<\/p>\n
For when he controls us<\/p>\n
The order\u2019s profound.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Let go of the death grip,<\/p>\n
You have on your life<\/p>\n
Inhibit your habits<\/p>\n
Without artifice.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Accept serendipity,<\/p>\n
Free by design<\/p>\n
Eat the new manna<\/p>\n
Drink the new wine.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Come to the manger<\/p>\n
Kneel at the throne<\/p>\n
Realize your ruler<\/p>\n
Won\u2019t leave you alone.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Celebrate Christmas<\/p>\n
Deliverance declare<\/p>\n
You\u2019re freed to inhabit<\/p>\n
A creature\u2019s full share.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
THEOLOGICAL MUSINGS<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFor God is not a God of chaos, but of peace as in all the churches\u201d (1 Cor. 14.33), says Paul, and we can understand his concern.\u00a0 Things can get pretty chaotic if self-centered human beings are all allowed to do their own thing, as seems to have been happening in Corinth. \u00a0But in fact, we are as likely if not more likely to see over-organization over-controlled situations in the life of individual Christians and indeed in the life of the church, including its worship life and all the more so at Christmas time.<\/p>\n
Of course it is true that orderliness in itself is not a bad thing, nor an ungodly thing. But there is an ordering of things that sometimes comes from a deep sense of insecurity in the soul.\u00a0 That insecurity, and its accompanying feeling of chaos or things being out of order, is compensated for by an attempt to control every eventuality.\u00a0 Some people even are obsessive-compulsive about it.\u00a0 Unfortunately this sort of over-compensation often characterizes holiday seasons where one is trying too hard to do things in a way that feeds that nostalgic need for one\u2019s good old days, one\u2019s childhood, and the like.\u00a0 The end result is that we celebrate the greatest creative miracle of God, the Incarnation, in the least creative or innovative ways possible!\u00a0 What is wrong with this picture?<\/p>\n
I take it as a Christian axiom that faith, not fear should be the basis of our decision-making in life. When we allow ourselves to be simply creatures of habit who stifle our fears and insecurities by over ordering things, rather than dealing with them we are at the same time quenching the Spirit and renouncing the freedom we have in Christ to be all that we were meant to be.\u00a0 A Christmas celebration without some serendipity is not in the spirit of real Christian celebration.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Freedom, even an \u2018orderly\u2019 and ordering freedom, like freedom in Christ, is of course a scary concept and prospect, at least to many.\u00a0 And yet they also deplore the deadening effect of mere repetition because \u201cwe\u2019ve always done it that way\u201d.<\/p>\n
But what would happen if we really took holidays as holy days\u2014times to rest in the Lord, times to turn off the alarm clock, times to get caught up in love, wonder and praise, times to \u2018turn and become as a child\u2019 so that we might really enter into the kingdom and royal spirit of the season?\u00a0 I once wrote a poem in which I said:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHolidays are hollow<\/p>\n
Unless they\u2019re hallowed well,<\/p>\n
For holidays are holy days<\/p>\n
The time for truth to tell.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
There\u2019s time to spare<\/p>\n
Time to waste<\/p>\n
Time to make amends<\/p>\n
Time to do most anything<\/p>\n
Even make new friends<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Holidays, a good time<\/p>\n
For writing poetry<\/p>\n
A silent, subtle indolence<\/p>\n
Inspires creativity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
My point is simply this. \u00a0\u00a0Holy days are prime time, when one needs to allow the land to go fallow, to allow the things that normally order our days to disappear. We need to lose track of all time, except prime time\u2014 the creative celebration and worship of the Christ child.\u00a0 Space, silence, rest and worship is in fact the soil from which creative responses to God come forth.\u00a0 At such seasons of the year as Christmas, worship should especially be the primary thing, and all other activities pushed further down the \u2018to do\u2019 list, even family celebrations.\u00a0 Worship, whether we realize it or not, restores our souls, renews our hope, redefines our vision, reorients our priorities.\u00a0 And it is in that all-important dialectic between worship and rest that we begin to see the rest of our habits in proper perspective.\u00a0 Once we have seen the vision glorious, once we have experienced the peace that passes understanding (not to be confused with the rest that comes after exhaustion) then perhaps we can release the death grip we tend to have on our lives and the tendency we all have to try and control those lives by ordering activities of various sorts.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sometimes losing or at least loosening one\u2019s grip on one\u2019s life is precisely what needs to happen so that the door is left ajar for\u00a0 renewal, rejuvenation, rebirth, re-creation, and recreation.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":68605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[15091],"class_list":["post-68755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-are-habits-bad"],"yoast_head":"\n
Creatures of Habit<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"CREATURES OF HABIT Creatures of habit, Day after day Go about life, The same old way. 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 Creatures of habit, Day after day Go about life, The same old way. Nothing disturbs Their orderly routine All must be\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2024\/12\/23\/creatures-of-habit-3\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bible and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-23T06:41:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-18T13:44:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2024\/12\/thumbnail_20241016_102919-1.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\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=\"5 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\/2024\/12\/23\/creatures-of-habit-3\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2024\/12\/23\/creatures-of-habit-3\/\",\"name\":\"Creatures of Habit\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-23T06:41:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-18T13:44:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/67da39aff728f9d015878d198839df4b\"},\"description\":\"CREATURES OF HABIT Creatures of habit, Day after day Go about life, The same old way. Nothing disturbs Their orderly routine All must be\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2024\/12\/23\/creatures-of-habit-3\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2024\/12\/23\/creatures-of-habit-3\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2024\/12\/23\/creatures-of-habit-3\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Creatures of Habit\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/\",\"name\":\"The Bible and Culture\",\"description\":\"A One-Stop Shop for All Things Biblical and Christian\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/67da39aff728f9d015878d198839df4b\",\"name\":\"Ben Witherington\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8cf1998568f0b6ccbd63f56b44d47303?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8cf1998568f0b6ccbd63f56b44d47303?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ben Witherington\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/author\/benw333\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Creatures of Habit","description":"CREATURES OF HABIT Creatures of habit, Day after day Go about life, The same old way. Nothing disturbs Their orderly routine All must be","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Creatures of Habit","og_description":"CREATURES OF HABIT Creatures of habit, Day after day Go about life, The same old way. Nothing disturbs Their orderly routine All must be","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2024\/12\/23\/creatures-of-habit-3\/","og_site_name":"The Bible and Culture","article_published_time":"2024-12-23T06:41:37+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-12-18T13:44:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":480,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2024\/12\/thumbnail_20241016_102919-1.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ben Witherington","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ben Witherington","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2024\/12\/23\/creatures-of-habit-3\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2024\/12\/23\/creatures-of-habit-3\/","name":"Creatures of Habit","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-12-23T06:41:37+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-18T13:44:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/67da39aff728f9d015878d198839df4b"},"description":"CREATURES OF HABIT Creatures of habit, Day after day Go about life, The same old way. Nothing disturbs Their orderly routine All must be","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2024\/12\/23\/creatures-of-habit-3\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2024\/12\/23\/creatures-of-habit-3\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2024\/12\/23\/creatures-of-habit-3\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Creatures of Habit"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/","name":"The Bible and Culture","description":"A One-Stop Shop for All Things Biblical and Christian","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/67da39aff728f9d015878d198839df4b","name":"Ben Witherington","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8cf1998568f0b6ccbd63f56b44d47303?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8cf1998568f0b6ccbd63f56b44d47303?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Ben Witherington"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/author\/benw333\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2024\/12\/thumbnail_20240626_134501-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n