As we enter the summer time and the season of Pentecost, it is easy to let the practice of our faith slip.  The sunshine and warmer weather naturally draw us outside more.  It is time when we take vacations.  It is easy to let our walk with Jesus dwindle to a long-distance relationship.  To fight against that happening, I encourage you to maintain your devotional time as well as your time in reflection, worship, prayer, and service.  Maybe you don't have a daily routine of spending time with God.  If that is the case, then I am willing to bet you are not walking very closely with Jesus. 

I have heard it said that if you do something for 21 days in a row, it becomes a habit.  I don't think research bears that out.  Research suggests that it can take a year or more for something to become so ingrained as to be called a habit and become something we do almost automatically.  According to James Clear in his blog, "How long does it take to form a new habit?" He talks about the research and then offers these three insights as to why this research is actually inspiring.

"First, there is no reason to get down on yourself if you try something for a few weeks and it doesn’t become a habit. It’s supposed to take longer than that! There is no need to judge yourself if you can’t master a behavior in 21 short days.  Embrace the long, slow walk to greatness and focus on sticking to it.

Second, you don’t have to be perfect. Making a mistake once or twice has no measurable impact on your long-term habits. This is why you should treat failure like a scientist, give yourself permission to make mistakes, and develop strategies for getting back on track more quickly.

And third, embracing longer timelines can help us realize that habits are a process and not an event. All of the “21 Days” hype can make it really easy to think, “Oh, I’ll just do this and it’ll be done.” But habits never work that way. You have to embrace the process. You have to commit to the system. Understanding this from the beginning makes it easier to manage your expectations and commit to making small incremental improvements— rather than pressuring yourself into thinking that you have to do it all at once.

At the end of the day, how long it takes to form a particular habit doesn’t really matter that much. Whether it takes 50 days or 500 days, you have to put in the work either way. The only way to get to Day 500 is to start with Day 1. So forget about the number and focus on doing the work."

I commend this to your prayerful consideration.  If we have any desire to have a close walk with Jesus, it will be because we are spending time in a relationship with Him.  If we have any desire to become the Church of God, it will because we are becoming the People of God in Holiness, relationship, and obedience.  Have a great summer.  Enjoy the sunshine and vacations, but please, don't neglect your relationship with the Great I AM!