Watch the path of your feet

I don't read the Proverbs as much as I should, but I was reading Proverb 4 this morning. Verse 26 says, "Watch the path of your feet and all your ways will be established." It reminded me of an incident from many years ago.

I'd asked a friend what she wanted to do for her birthday. She said she wanted to go for a little hike on Turkey Mountain. That sounded like fun to me, too, so that's what we did. Back in those days, I did a modest amount of hiking and she was one of my hiking buddies. Well, we were walking along, and I told her, "You know, I probably miss a lot of fun things when I'm hiking, because I'm usually looking at the ground (where I would be soon walking) instead of the things more on the horizontal level." Having said that, I'd determined to not spend so much time looking down on this hike. Well, about that time, she made a sound I don't know how to describe other than to replicate it, turned in the opposite direction and took off running! This was not her usual behavior, so I looked ahead, and on the ground, only a few feet ahead of us, were two snakes!!! And they weren't little, either! These guys were probably 2-3 inches in diameter and coral colored with diamond patterns on them! Therefore, I quickly followed her lead! We ran as far as we could until we were both so out of breath we had to stop! Needless to say, we headed for the car! And we never went back to Turkey Mountain, either! No, thank you!

Anyway, you might now be able to understand why this verse reminded me of this incident! So, I had established a good habit, then decided to change my mind. It was bad timing, for sure! But, then, is it ever good timing to deviate from a good habit and 'take a break?' Or give in to doubt that it's really a good habit? How many ways do we do this? How often do we do this? I've had a lot of good habits in my adult life, as a believer, then derailed for one reason or another, never to return. aarrgh...may we continue to set up good habits, then maintain them! These are good paths!