Be Careful What You Practice

Mr. Google says it takes an average of 66 days to form a new habit, but I reckon’ he ain’t never seen nothin’ stick faster than a cowboy drawl’, if’n you practice frum sun up to sun down fer just a few days!

Google oughta been warnin’ me to mind what I’m practicin’—’cause once it sets in, it’ll stick like a tick on a hound dog!”

How’s this ol’ cowboy twang sittin’ with ya? Ain’t too rough on yer ears, is it? My newfangled prairie tongue talkin’ came on quicker’n a hiccup and it’s twice as hard to shake! Yes Ma’am! I reckon they’ll kick me outta this here blog like a stray dog snuck into a Sunday meetin’ if I don’t stop lettin’ my lyri’cal horses run wild. Trouble is, I’m already out on the trail, and turnin’ back’s like tryin’ to rope a greased hog!

Before you break your computer to get away from my coeboy speak, let me explain.

We just finished 5 straight days of wild-west themed Bible School at our church where we got to act like bone-i-fied cowboys from sun up to sun down. (sort of :). For the last 2 weeks, we’ve been practicing our western accents so we’d be fully prepared for our characters.

My kids didn’t know what hit them when cow-girl mom would be stormin’ ‘round the kitchen shoutin’ western things in the thickest accent I could muster. At one point, I was announcin’ the time o’ morning in my loudest callin’-the-cows-home vocals and nobody could figure out what I was even sayin’!

You know what they say - it’s all fun and games until you get stuck in the game. After 5 days of talkin’ like a cowboy, we’re finding the accent has stuck more than desired. It was supposed to be fun and games for VBS, but the accent is inappropriately sneaking out - like last night when I was lookin’ in the ice box fer our evening vittles. I was jawin’ with my young’uns like a true ol’ cowboy, and didn’t even catch my own drawl hangin’ on my tongue.

Do you know what this tells me? - Be CAREFUL what I practice. Literally. As fun as it is, I don’t want to speak like a cowboy…. permanently. For VBS, it was fantastic. For real life? -- Not so much. 

We often practice things that aren’t as loud and proud as a Western drawl, but they’re just as sticky. No one can hear your practiced thoughts - but they are ‘stickier’n molasses in January!

Science proves that thoughts shape our actions.

When you have a thought, the ripples will be seen in your actions. Seems benign, until we realize that the life we’re living is a product of our practicing. 

What are we practicing anyway? - Are we practicing the things that we want to stick? 

I didn’t intend to be speakin’ to my younin’s like a momma frum the west, but here I am. 

What else are we practicing? --How about the thoughts we think about our marriages?

Full transparency? - I practice unhelpful thoughts far too often and it lands me in a heap of trouble. Are we practicing the thought that our husbands are good-willed, well meaning guys, who just want us to be happy? Or is the loop in your head more like “That yeller-belly sneaky cuss don’t give two shakes ‘bout nobody but his own hide—slippin’ ‘round like a cat sneakin’ biscuits off the kitchen table, always plannin’ his next gravy train.” Each set of practiced thoughts will have extraordinarily different outcomes. Each set of thoughts WILL stick…. Depending on the one you’re practicin’.

What else are we practicing? Just look at your life and it will tattle on you like an over confident sibling airing your underwear. Can’t seem to make it to church? Well - we’re practicing the thought that it isn’t important. “We need extra sleep anyway”  - “The kids are far too rowdy to sit in a service” -- “I just need a day to catch up on my work.”  

See the sneaky-sticky practicing? Whatever we practice will STICK.

Feeling lonely? What thoughts are you practicing about that? “Making friends is hard”, “No one will like me anyways”, “I’ll just check my Instagram because it’s fun to look at”... 

Guess what?! - The ripples of those sticky thoughts are catastrophic! What if we chose the thoughts we wanted to think because we KNOW the ripple is coming. What if you got up on Sunday and came to church and gave a “Howdy!!” to someone who needs it just as badly as you do? What if we were CAREFUL about what we were thinking and it could change our lives?

I’m WITH YOU on this. We best saddle up together—works better that way than wanderin’ these parts alone. Let’s be careful what we practice!

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Meet your farmer - Liz Gerdes. She & her husband run a farm-to-table Raw Milk dairy and farm Airbnb in Caledonia. If you’re looking for raw milk fresh from the farm, visit gerdesfreshfarm.com or follow her on Facebook @gerdesfreshfarm or Instagram @gerdesliz for more info.