Rituals

This is about rituals ... routines ... habits ... things we do everyday, maybe without even thinking.

We have a year-and-half-old poodle at home who is always in play mode, even at 4 a.m. when I'm getting ready for work. Since we brought him home, he has had a fascination with socks -- he'll clean out a sock drawer in nothing flat if you're not careful. Every morning when I reach the point that it's time to put on socks and shoes, he is right there, wanting my socks. So, every morning, I'll throw one sock for him to chase while I put on the other one. Then, when I'm ready for the other sock, I'll throw one of his toys and he'll chase that. Every morning.

Then there are the rituals we do without really knowing why. You've probably heard the story about the family dinner where the daughter was observed cutting off the ends of a ham before putting it in the pan to put in the oven. Someone asked why she did that. She said she didn't know, that's what her mom did. Mom was there, and she said she didn't know, that's what her mom did. Grandma was there, and she said she did it because the pan she had was too small for the ham to fit.

The point of all of this is ... there are things we all do, at home, at work, at church, that we do out of habit, without much thought. Let's take a second to really pay attention to some of those things -- listening to our kids, telling our spouse how we feel about them, observing this Easter season -- and reflect on the meaning behind what we're doing. It might be a wake-up call.

Thanks for listening.