What does it mean to be disciplined?

I've been thinking about discipline a lot recently. Life gets so busy with chapel activities, work, family and friends...all very important things that all take a lot of time and committment! I've been reassessing and evaluating my schedule from all sorts of angles. There are so many things I want to be a part of ...can I just squeeze them ALL in? Or do I choose? How do I choose which ones take priority and which ones should be laid aside? So I began to wonder, do I just need more discipline in my life to accomplish all these "good" things? Maybe I need to be better disciplined with my time? Or, maybe some things are "good" but I must choose the "better"! Is that part of discipline--to be able to weed out the good to find the better treasure? What does it take to truly be disciplined?

Being disciplined is...

• Being disciplined is a result of training, "training expected to produce a specific character or pattern of behavior, especially training that produces moral or mental improvement. "**
• Being disciplined is to have "controlled behavior resulting from disciplinary training; self-control."**
• Being disciplined is to have "control obtained by enforcing compliance or order."**
• Being disciplined is having "a systematic method to obtain obedience: a military discipline. "**
• Being disciplined is to have "a state of order based on submission to rules and authority: a teacher who demanded discipline in the classroom. "**
• Being disciplined is "to impose order on: needed to discipline their study habits. "**
  

**Definitions from Dictionary.com

I think the thought that most impresses me as I look at the definition of discipline is that it has to do with order. It means that we are taking a systematic approach to whatever goal we are wanting to achieve, whether it is to run a marathon or to improve a character trait or to manage a better schedule. It means that we have a plan on how we are going to achieve our goal and that we are going to abide by that plan. Discipline does not reflect an easy path. Discipline involves enforcing, controlling, imposing, submitting. To become disciplined requires hard work but I think we would all agree that the end results from discipline are well worth it when we achieve our goal. And, our highest goal is that "we might be found to praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." (I Peter 1:7b) We can not accomplish such a goal without learning in the process what it means to be disciplined.