On our family trip to Hawaii last year, our children were allowed to pick out souvenirs at a few places we visited. At one stop, my son chose a lucky cat {much like the picture above}. When the sun hits the cat, its paw waves up and down with a slight clicking sound.
Every morning, when I open the curtains in his room and the morning sunlight falls on his cat figure, the clicking and waving immediately begin and they continue until the sun moves and the cat is covered in shadow.
This daily routine and noise caused me to think about being consistent in aspects of life. Consistency is a trait that seems to be falling away. People have so many pulls on their attention and time that they have trouble being consistent, especially in areas where it matters.
I freely admit that this is a struggle for me at times. Consistency requires time, effort, and a conscious drive to do what we know we should do, not only what we feel like doing.
Bible reading
We know we should and yet…it’s difficult to consistently open God’s Word and read it. Why? Maybe we find it boring. Maybe we believe there’s nothing new to understand. Maybe we don’t make it a priority so it naturally gets squeezed out of our routine.
None of these are valid excuses. The old adage “You make time for what’s important to you” is very accurate here. If we love the Bible, if we hunger to know God better, we will certainly prioritize time reading the Bible. But we have to decide and commit to consistently be in the Word.
I prefer to read a physical copy for my daily devotions but if I know it’s going to be a crazy day, I listen to the Bible on my phone while doing my makeup, washing dishes, etc. However it works for you, do it!
Prayer
One of the hardest things for me is prayer. Not because it’s difficult but because I get so wrapped up in other things or worry that I just don’t think about it. Until I’m convicted that I’ve been trying to solve the problem on my own instead of laying it before God.
Having a consistent prayer life is important for every Christian. Not because it gives us a step up in bragging rights or eternal glory but because we are coming before our Creator and he hears us! Our worries, requests, hardships, questions, praise all matter to him and he welcomes us into fellowship with himself. We should be clamoring to spend time in prayer!
Consistently talking with our Lord strengthens our faith, teaches us to rely on him, and helps us grow in our Christian walk.
Discipline
Until you’ve told a child to stop a certain behavior several times in one morning, you might not realize what a struggle for consistency this is. It’s easy to think we’ve said no enough, we’ve sent them to their rooms enough, they’ve been punished enough. But if your children are still struggling with that sinful habit, we must keep being consistent in how we deal with it.
I’m not telling you how to discipline your kids here, although I certainly have thoughts on it. I’m telling you being consistent in dealing with sin is an important part of discipline in general. If we correct our children for throwing a fit up until the tenth time then let them go because we’re tired of dealing with it, they will always persist until that tenth time because they have learned you can be worn down and then they get what they want.
kindness
This shouldn’t need to be said but we are sinful people living with and among other sinful people and sometimes we snap! I have found being kind, compassionate, nice, etc. are not taken as the norm. In fact, in some situations, smiling and speaking kindly stand out as a rare thing. Think of moments where frustrations, tempers, and attitudes tend to run high. Now imagine being the person working in that environment, where everyday people are yelling, glaring, or upset with you but you can’t always solve the problem {I’m thinking of customer service and flight representatives, hotel staff, but I’m sure there are others}.
Most of these interactions will probably be the only time you’ll speak to the people in question, but if we choose to just be kind consistently, it will be easier to default to that attitude when we might be tempted to blow up. And of course this applies to family, coworkers, friends, and people we see on a regular basis.
Every morning, that clicking, waving cat greets me and it doesn’t show signs of slowing down. But every morning I’m reminded why being consistent in my Christian life matters.
Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash