Multiplication Power – Habits

“Poor is the student who does not surpass his master.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci

My mother always says my siblings and I are so smart. “Where did you get it from?” She asks quite often, as she thinks of the different things each of us is doing. No matter who it is she asks, we all have an almost identical response. It starts with a solid eye roll and then, “Duh mum, who else? You of course! We get it from you.” I am honestly not so sure she believes us. You see my mother didn’t get any of the educational opportunities she worked and fought so hard to give us. On top of that, when I was nine years old she was involved in a near-fatal vehicle accident that quite honestly should have killed her, but God. She survived with no broken bones, a few bumps and bruises and, because of the impact to her head sustained during the crash, she lost her memory. She later shared with us how during the time she was unconscious she had a dream that she was knocking on several doors in a very long corridor, searching for her children and refusing to leave without them. Her memory eventually returned but since then, her confidence in her intellect, much like the impact the crash had on the back of her head, has sustained some injury. She looks at us in awe of certain things we do or say forgetting that we are simply a multiplication of her very essence, reflecting back to her what is within her.

“Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.” ~ 1 Corinthians 11:1

“Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example.” ~ Philippians 3:17

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.” ~ Ephesians 5:1

There is power in multiplication. God has placed this law, if you call it, on the earth to shape humanity and it is a law we cannot escape. The power of multiplication is what splits and multiplies the cells of an unborn child in the womb. The power of multiplication is what causes a single seed to grow into a large tree, producing many more fruits with seeds after its kind. The power of multiplication is what takes the hereditary material in parents passing it on to their children. There is power in multiplication. This power creates a silent backdrop on the stage of our lives that heightens the impact of every scene whether good or bad. It is the reason children whose parents read to them are more likely to grow up with a love for reading. It is also the reason why employees who are valued by the organisation are more likely to value the customers of the organisation. Statistics show that children from families affected by divorce are more likely to experience divorce and children from homes where drugs and alcohol were abused are more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol when they grow up too. It’s as if this multiplication power is blind to the core attributes of a thing and goes right along to use its charm on everything, regardless of whether it is considered right or wrong.

Habits are one such thing greatly affected by the power of multiplication, ingrained and passed along ever so easily. A habit is a settled tendency or behaviour we do often and regularly, sometimes without knowing that we are doing it. Fun fact, habits are our brain’s way of increasing its efficiency. Our brain turns daily actions and behaviours into habits, getting us to do them automatically and without too much thought which frees up our brainpower for more important tasks. We all have habits, some mundane, some good and others bad. These habits did not magically appear overnight, we embraced them into our lives little by little, until they became second nature to us. Most of our habits were modelled to us by the people we spend the majority of our time with; our family members, work or school colleagues and our friends. The interestingly scary thing about habits is that they shape our lives.

I remember one time, years back, at a church youth camp in the early morning all the girls were lining up to shower. Some were brushing their teeth at the sinks nearby as they waited, while others stretched and others chatted. One girl was brushing her teeth and as she finished she used her toothbrush to brush over her lips. Another girl who had been watching, surprised by this, asked the first girl why she was brushing her lips to which she replied, “I’m brushing off the dead skin.” For some reason, I have never forgotten that even though it happened thirteen years ago and I have no idea the names of the two girls. What has always struck me about that scene is the confidence of the girl who was doing the brushing. Over the years, I have assumed that she learned that from her mother or Dr Oz on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Yes, I learned a lot of things that way too. Either way, she did it often enough that it became second nature to her and she was able to do it, without thinking, in a crowd of other girls she barely knew. I then often wonder if the second girl, the one looking on perplexed by what she had observed, had then gone home and started doing what she had seen. Had she been influenced enough, in that short moment, to use that method to rid her lips of the dry layer of skin? I didn’t, I have my own way of getting rid of dead skin on my lips. I learned that from my mother and it works just fine. Thank you very much.

Everything we do, whether as mundane as brushing our teeth or as significant as studying for an exam, must be done with a desire to glorify God. It is evidenced that we pick up most of our habits from our homes in the presence of our parents. This being so, as children of God we should seek His presence often and observe Him closely so that we can begin to mimic Him just as we did our earthly parents. Do me a solid and answer this question, are your habits multiplying into daily actions that magnify God, magnify you or magnify whatever else? How can we take advantage of the power of multiplication to reproduce what is good rather than what is bad?

We can pay attention to our habits

Until we take the time to assess what we do and why we do it, we will continue to pass things along that may be detrimental to our legacy. It is usually only when we have been exposed, removed from our comfort zone and made to see what we do through the eyes of others that we see some of our habits for what they are. This is why I believe there is power in moving out of your family home. Whether staying with a roommate in a dorm on campus, a housemate after getting your first job, or a spouse after your wedding, living with someone who did not grow up in the environment you did will place a big magnifying glass on your habits. If you will pay attention, you will realise that some things you do are considered strange by other people, and that’s OK. Your normal doesn’t have to be everyone’s cup of tea. The important question is does that habit contradict the nature of your Heavenly Father? Brushing your lips after brushing your teeth is neither here nor there. Waking up and playing worship music as you get ready for the day sounds like a good habit to me and I think you would agree that raising your voice and using profanity when you are angry is a clear bad habit. Take some time to think about your habits. What are the settled tendencies or behaviours you do often and regularly, sometimes without knowing you are doing them? If you have never thought about it, pay more attention as your week progresses and make mental notes of your self-observation.

We can put our habits on paper

There is something about writing what we’re thinking down. More than just making mental notes as we observe and pay more attention to what our habits are, listing them down will help us process our reality with the Holy Spirit. Sort your list of habits into three columns; neutral, good and bad. Try to figure out where you got your neutral habits from, I can assure you this will take you down memory lane and probably cause you to phone your family members to reminisce. Assess your ‘good habits’ column and think back to where you learned those too. Take time to appreciate the fact that these behaviours come so naturally for you because of what someone in your past modelled or took the time to teach you. In the same way, look at the habits you list in your ‘bad habits’ column. Don’t beat yourself up, only Jesus lived perfectly on this earth. The fact that you have a ‘bad’ list is proof that you are human and is also a reminder that God is a redeemer. Can you identify where you learned those bad habits? If you can, take some time to forgive and release the person who passed those things down to you because they didn’t know any better. Ask God to help you replace those habits with new ones as you renew your mind in His Word.

We can practice good habits in community

We are all inclined to slip back into old bad habits if we do not surround ourselves with people who do better because they know better and challenge us to do the same. Excellent people desire to excel in life, both in physical and spiritual things. Surrounding ourselves with such people who share the values we want to multiply in our lives will help us increase our good habits and diminish the bad ones. Finding safe people whom you can trust to hold you accountable to the good habits you want to pursue is a big step in the right direction because the Holy Spirit does some of His best work in community.

Jesus understood the power of multiplication when He said that His disciples would do greater works than Him. Just like we cannot do every single thing exactly the same as our parents or older siblings did, we can never do every single thing Jesus did. We can take the best parts, which in Jesus’ case is everything, and do it to the best of our ability to go farther in possibility, trajectory and impact. We are charged to imitate Christ and others who are doing well at imitating Him so I challenge you today, to be the best student, cultivate the best of what you have been taught and allow it to multiply in your life as you model to others.