S
ome habits just happen. I think particularly about having a cup of coffee in the morning. This just occurs, without stress or consideration. I'll often wish I had coffee left over from the day prior that I could just microwave, rather than heating up new water and grinding up new grounds, but the process has the savor of inevitability about it.
Other habits, no matter how long you do them for, feel like you are making a decision to do them every single time. Flossing is like this. Every night, a succinct drama plays out in my head as my personal sloth-demon half-heartedly throws out a few novel reasons why this night it's okay for me not to floss, and I have to remind myself that it takes literally less than 30 seconds, and if there's not an extremely compelling reason not to, keeping up the habit is worthwhile.
Another of these habits is my nightly prayer routine. This is the only part of my spiritual life that has been anything like consistent and healthy -- I have a set of prayers that I've successfully said every night for at least four or five years now. To my knowledge, I have not missed a single night, though I have a truncated version for when I'm particularly wiped. But even with all that momentum behind me, it feel like an act of will every time to force myself to thank my Lord for all he has done for me, and ask Him to do even more on mine and my loved ones behalf. At this point, I'm fairly confident it will never feel automatic; and that might just be a good thing. I wonder when I'll miss the first night? And I wonder what will cause it.