If You Always Do What You've Always Done ...

I have been chewing on a statement that you might have heard before: "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got." Some say that it was Mark Twain who penned the words.

If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.

There are areas of life where this is true. When people keep making the same choices over and over, they are destined to get the same results.

There are areas of life where this is not true, though. There are aspects of life when people make the same choices over and over, and instead of getting the same results, they get less.

Think about it in the area of finances. If I always do what I've always done, I won't always get what I always got because gas prices go up. I have to pay more to get the same amount of gas which I got before. The only way to get a lot more gas is to pay a lot more.

If I always spend the way I've always spent, I will not get what I always got because everything costs more. If I always make what I've always made, I won't get what I always got because every week my buying power is less.

In many areas of life the statement should be: "If I always do what I've always done, I'll get less or worse than I always got." Or maybe the statement should be: "If I do a little more than I've always done, I'll merely get what I've always got.”

The truth in many areas of life is actually: If I do substantially more or different than I've always done, I'll get more or different than I've always got.

I haven’t been chewing on this in relation to finances or about getting things or about bettering life. I’ve been thinking about how there is a natural deterioration in the spiritual arena. When a person’s spiritual life is left to itself, it rusts, molds, grows moss and deteriorates. It takes a certain level of attention to spiritual health just to keep from rusting and molding spiritually. It takes a greater level of attention to spiritual health to keep growing and changing. The level of attention which, at one point in life, brought growth and change eventually is the level that is needed just to keep rust, moss and mold away.

Spiritually - praying, reading, resting - are you doing what you’ve always done or are you doing different/more?