Discipline

Sometimes the answer you are looking for is so obvious you can't see it. But, when I finally realized the Lord was showing me the same song, different verse in multiple areas of my life, it finally registered.

For me, the answer is discipline.

Committing to 40 days of prayer and fasting for the upcoming election, I began to seek the Lord for how He would have me walk that out. The first thing I knew was that I was to write another devotional. That required me to become more disciplined in my time.

As I prayed about what to fast, the answer I received was that I was to give up my excesses. OK, I don't want to go into more detail than you need to know, but have you ever thought about how much we do in excess? Too much TV. Too much talk radio. Too much food. Too much inactivity. Too much talking. Too much entertainment. Too much video games. Too much shopping. Too much football. Too much . . . you get the idea. In other words, discipline my actions.

About the same time I was contemplating the devotional someone here at the Capitol came up with the brilliant idea of a group of us committing to an exercise "boot camp." Knowing that up to this point my personal commitment to exercise has been the concession that I would run if someone was bleeding (preferably someone I really care about) or something large was chasing me, I nevertheless thought, "Hey, what could it hurt?" (Just in case you find yourself in the same situation, be advised, it can hurt every single part of your body - really bad.) The truth was, I knew I needed the discipline of a group environment to get into physical shape.

But, the whole discipline connection did not hit me until last night. I was on "grandkid duty." Hannah has recently become the proud owner of, Princess Chloe, a tea cup Chihuahua. Tuesday night is Puppy Kindergarten night, so with mom out of town and dad at work, Migi agreed to take Hannah and Chloe to school. Chloe has no concept that she weighs less than five pounds, or that the other dogs could flatten her with one paw. And, she is pretty obstinate. She is not taking particularly well to the concept of walking on a leash. She would sit down and plant her front feet, refusing to move. I was instructed to just pull her along behind me. Not a problem for me. Sam, the basset hound, went to puppy kindergarten eight years ago. While he did not graduate in the top ten percent of his class, he did get tired of being drug around in the flying squirrel position and consented to walking politely at the end of his leash. It just took a little discipline.

Let me see if I can sum it up. Regardless of the area of life you need to get control over, the answer is discipline. Too much debt? Be disciplined in your spending. Overweight? Be disciplined in your eating and exercising habits. Life too hectic? Be disciplined in your time management. Spiritual life lacking? Be disciplined in your time with the Lord.

"But, God, I was looking for the easy answer."

"No problem, when you get tired of Me dragging you around in the flying squirrel position, you can get up and walk."

Ouch.

Lord, thank you for making the answers so simple. Apart from You, we can do nothing. Sometimes it does feel like I am being pulled through life in the flying squirrel position. I pray that You will help me to become more disciplined in every area of my life.