Growing Habits
Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid. Prov. 12:1, NIV.
An old man once remarked, “When I was a little boy somebody gave me a cucumber in a bottle. The neck of the bottle was small, the cucumber very large. I wondered how it had gotten in there. Out in the garden one day I came upon a bottle that someone had slipped over a little cucumber. Then I understood. The cucumber had grown large after it had been put in the bottle.”
Have you ever looked around at all the good, strong, and sensible people you know and wondered why they hang on to their bad habits when they know better? What about yourself?
People with bad habits are like the cucumber in the bottle. They just grew into them while young and now find it impossible to slip out of them. Changing a bad habit is work. Probably the hardest work in the world!
Much of children’s early behavior (or misbehavior) is impulsive. They want a piece of candy, so they take it. They feel a little hungry halfway between breakfast and lunch, and spying the cake on the table, take a piece and eat it. Children may feel sad because no one is paying any attention to them, so they eat too many sweets because it makes them feel better. Little acts at first—little impulsive ones. But what if the next time they want something, they take it, or if when they feel hungry, they eat junk food, or if they feel sad and eat candy?
What if no one is around to help them find a better way of coping with their desires and feelings, to help them control their impulsive behavior? They will probably repeat their previous behavior. And like the cucumber growing in the bottle, the more they repeat those actions, the stronger the behavior grows and the more difficult it is to slip out of it.
Obviously, the best way to stop a bad habit is never to start it, but if you’ve got a habit that’s already the size of a cucumber in the bottle, maybe it’s time to start cutting it out—or maybe you just ought to break the bottle!
Lord, I know what I should do, but it’s so hard. Show me how to “cut out the cucumber” or “break the bottle.” Thank You.
An old man once remarked, “When I was a little boy somebody gave me a cucumber in a bottle. The neck of the bottle was small, the cucumber very large. I wondered how it had gotten in there. Out in the garden one day I came upon a bottle that someone had slipped over a little cucumber. Then I understood. The cucumber had grown large after it had been put in the bottle.”
Have you ever looked around at all the good, strong, and sensible people you know and wondered why they hang on to their bad habits when they know better? What about yourself?
People with bad habits are like the cucumber in the bottle. They just grew into them while young and now find it impossible to slip out of them. Changing a bad habit is work. Probably the hardest work in the world!
Much of children’s early behavior (or misbehavior) is impulsive. They want a piece of candy, so they take it. They feel a little hungry halfway between breakfast and lunch, and spying the cake on the table, take a piece and eat it. Children may feel sad because no one is paying any attention to them, so they eat too many sweets because it makes them feel better. Little acts at first—little impulsive ones. But what if the next time they want something, they take it, or if when they feel hungry, they eat junk food, or if they feel sad and eat candy?
What if no one is around to help them find a better way of coping with their desires and feelings, to help them control their impulsive behavior? They will probably repeat their previous behavior. And like the cucumber growing in the bottle, the more they repeat those actions, the stronger the behavior grows and the more difficult it is to slip out of it.
Obviously, the best way to stop a bad habit is never to start it, but if you’ve got a habit that’s already the size of a cucumber in the bottle, maybe it’s time to start cutting it out—or maybe you just ought to break the bottle!
Lord, I know what I should do, but it’s so hard. Show me how to “cut out the cucumber” or “break the bottle.” Thank You.
Used by permission of Health Ministries, North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.
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