Habits – Live By Them or Die By Them
Published May 29, 2009 | 
I have recently been reading “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey. In it he talks about living our lives from a principle center rather than any other. One of the principles he alludes to early in the book is that of habit.
We have all heard the maxim, “we are creatures of habit.” That is a true statement. What Covey points out that is very relevant to those of us struggling with sexual integrity issues is that habits can work for you or against you. If you are struggling with habitual sexual sin, then obviously this principle of human behavior is not working in your favor.
We can live out the scripts that we have developed over a lifetime, or we can take responsibility for them and choose to develop new, healthy habits.
If this is intriguing to you, get a copy of the book and get to work using the principle of habit to your advantage!
Beware of the Free-View
Published May 12, 2009 | Last weekend I discovered we had a free-view of some premium movie channels from our satellite provider. One of the channels has a lot of adult content late at night (read soft-core porn). Needless to say, I was very displeased to discover these channels were active.
I emailed my satellite provider and asked that the channels be disabled. After a few days I received no response. When I confirmed the channels were still active, I called customer service to request they disable them. They informed me that because it was a “free-view” and the channels were not a part of my programming package they could not turn them off and I would have to block them myself.
Once again, I was incredibly disappointed. I sent another email to them voicing my disappointment and suggested they offer a way to opt out of these free-view promotions, particularly when adult content is being made available in my home without my permission.
So, what is the moral of the story? I can’t think of a good one. But, I want to warn our readers. Beware of the free-view. It is one thing when you proactively shut off access to porn in your home. It is another when a vendor pushes it into your television and refuses to turn it off. It would be an easy excuse to indulge your flesh and give your sobriety an unwanted setback.
The Great Date Experiment
Published May 7, 2009 | 
For those of us who are married, you know that investing in the relationship with our mate is one of the most profitable activities we can do. MarriedLife, a ministry devoted to helping people experience the individual growth necessary for a healthy marriage, has kicked off a campaign called The Great Date Experiment. This is how they introduce it.
Most of us want to spend time with our spouse, but most of us don’t spend enough time with our spouse. When we do get time together, a lot of us experience the classic, “What do you want to do? I don’t know, what do you want to do?”
So, your task if you choose to accept it: go to the site, download a date and invest in your marriage!
Get It Together!
Published May 6, 2009 | I attended the Healing for the Soul retreat this past weekend. I have several takeaways to blog about, but wanted to start with this.
On the last morning of the retreat, we had a time where attendees had the opportunity to share their experiences. One man in particular touched my heart. He shared how he went to the gift shop at the retreat center and asked God to lead him to something. He found a small plaque with a poem entitled, “To My Son” or something like that. As the guy read the poem, he struggled many times through heaving tears to continue reading. One time, he reassured himself as he choked back tears, “Get it together!” I couldn’t help but think, “That is together!” When I had the chance to share, I was sure to tell that man he did have it together and it touched my heart.
I understand what he meant when he said, “Get it together!” He had a goal of sharing the poem with us and his deep emotion was hindering him. However, it was his display of emotion, much more than the words of the poem, that impacted those of us listening. I was blessed.
This experience highlighted to me how we stifle ourselves emotionally. The discovery of our brokenness during the process of recovery can be intense. It can at times render you a quivering mess of emotions. But keep this in mind: that is together! The brokenness we discover can really only be put back together when we allow ourselves to grieve it appropriately. Only then can we move on with integrity, knowing we have given our souls the needed ventilation. Getting it together may in truth look like falling apart!
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