The How Becomes the Who

One of the things that you see throughout Scripture is that God seems to care not only about outcomes but about how we get there.  The how matters.

And the reason why the how matters so much is because if you do the same how over and over again eventually it becomes a part of your who.

If how you handle stress and relax is by drinking too much, who you become eventually is an alcoholic. All addictions start with a how that over-run our who.

Conversely, I've known people who were absolutely wonderful prayer warriors.  They became that who through a lifetime of practice, practice and more practice in prayer.

Many years ago I had a major change in my day-job that significantly shifted my routines and schedules that I'd been doing for about fourteen years.  Initially it was utterly and totally disorienting.  I had no idea that I'd become so incredibly attached to the rhythms and the how's of that fourteen-year-long job.

Some questions I've been journaling about recently in light of all of this: how have my how's shaped who I am today--both for good and for bad?  What are the how's that need to change because of who I'll be if I continue to do the how in that direction?