"Rituals"... For Lack of a Better Title (hehe)

Rituals. There are so many everyday things we do without realizing we're doing them. We struggle to pull ourselves out of bed after subconsciously pressing the "snooze" button on our alarms. We say a quick prayer, maybe do a devotion, take a shower, get dressed, grab a quick breakfast if we're lucky, and we're off to our first class. Rituals. Where do rituals, habits and traditions become distinct? Sometimes they seem to blend together in my mind. I've heard that rituals are actions we choose to take a part in, actions that don't necessarily have a meaning behind them. Habits, on the other hand, are our subconscious actions. And traditions are meaningful actions we choose to take a part in.

Rituals, although we don't always understand them, can have a positive influence on our lives. I believe if we were to gradually turn our spiritual rituals into habits, we'd have closer walks with God. If, instead of our morning devotions being merely rituals we engaged in only because we know we should be doing them, we turned them into positive habits, maybe they would resonate more in our lives. Think about it. We'd wake up in the morning and would instinctively reach for our Bibles. This would cause great spiritual growth if we truly meditated on what God is trying to tell us and coupled scripture with prayer. Habits don't always need to have negative connotations to them, they can be positive. Such as, saying "God bless you" after hearing someone sneeze and paying tithe whenever we receive or earn money. I don't know how far we can get with rituals on their own. I'm still unsure of how they can benefit us, outside of being a comfort to us.