Broke out of my habit of just falling into bed after story time, staying up to do some laundry. 

My son Zachary has been volunteering at the Tigard library this summer. Tonight he was telling me about a single chair in a far off corner of the library. And in that secluded chair, there is always a man.

He’s a large man, pale skin, always wearing dark clothes. He holds a laptop in a single hand, a movie playing. The other hand falls limply towards the floor.

The interesting thing about this man is that he’s always asleep when my son sees him. Always in the same position. Always lightly snoring. Zachary tells me that his friend finds this man in the same spot, same position, sleeping, everyday.

Why does this man sleep in the library in the same spot everyday? Maybe he sleeps in the library because he doesn’t have anywhere else to sleep. Maybe he just likes it there. I don’t know.

But I do know that the sleeping man has habits. And like the sleeping man, we have habits too. Those habits may include sleeping in the same spot, eating the same meals, working at the same job, and doing the same things.

Habits are easy. Breaking habits is hard.

But if we want to go beyond ourselves and make real change in this world by giving our time, we have to be willing to break out of our habits.

Perhaps it is time to wake up.