The Grooves of Virtuous Character

Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung writes in her book Glittering Vices about how habits are developed:

“By way of an analogy, think of a winter sledding party, in which a group of people head out to smooth a path through freshly fallen snow.  The first sled goes down slowly, carving out a rut.  Other sleds follow, over and over, down the same path, smoothing and packing down the snow.  After many trips a well-worn groove develops, a path out of which it is hard to steer.  The groove enables sleds to stay aligned and on course, gliding rapidly, smoothly, and easily on their way.  Character traits are like that: the first run down, which required some effort and tough going, gradually becomes a smooth track that one glides down without further intentional steering.  Of course, a rider can always stick out a boot and throw the sled off course, usually damaging the track as well.  So too we can act out of character, even after being “in the groove” for a long time.  In general, however, habits incline us swiftly, smoothly, and reliably toward certain types of action.” (Glittering Vices 14)

In other words, practices create grooves.  Initially, the groove is not created yet, so it is easy to veer off path.  As practices are habituated, the groove is actually quite difficult to veer from.  This is powerful to consider with regard to practices like worship, confession of sin, prayer, listening to and responding to Scripture, considering Christ and his body in the church - all of which happen within the realm of one service of worship.  The disciplined Christian, then, has grooves which are habituated and are hard to veer from.  For this Christian, ‘keeping the faith’ often feels like that one is being ‘kept by the faith’.  Intentionality and effort are not forced, but are built into routine.