Classic Words by Kate Aspen

The other day my mom was taking care of my 23 month old niece. They were outside and my mom was working in the yard.

She turned to Kate and said: "Kate, do you want to help Grandma?"

Kate said: "No thanks. I watch."

For being so little she sure knows how to supervise!!

Light House

I just thought my blog needed a little sprucing up and figured a lighthouse might help!

Discipline Part 2: Self-Control

It's been a while since I've given my blog any TLC and I've had a few of you wonder when I was going to post again. To be honest, I usually like to be "inspired" before I post anything, inspired to share some sort of collected and organized thought. But I haven't felt particularly inspired of late, especially since I wanted to continue to address the topic of discipline. To me, that topic hits a little too close to home and may be a little too convicting for my liking, so I think I've been in a holding pattern of avoidance! But, this little desire to avoid the topic doesn't make it any less applicable to my life and so I need to press on and continue to gain an understanding of what it means to be disciplined and how I practically make changes to gain a more disciplined life.

There are various ways that I can be more disciplined outwardly in my daily life. Currently, I am working to improve my approach when it comes to making my meals at home rather than eating out so often, which not only affects my budget but also my cholesterol!! (I know, I should really be too young to be talking about cholesterol!) I'm putting together weekly meal plans rated "easy", "moderate", and "special occasions" so I can streamline my grocery shopping/list making and choose the meal plan that best suits my schedule for that week and provides a little bit of variety! This is just a small way I want to become more disciplined and organized.

But, in what way can I become more disciplined in my spiritual life? What "little" adjustments can I make that will help develop my character? Are there specific goals I should be striving to achieve in my quest for discipline? My last blog gave several definitions of discipline so I thought I'd look at them one by one and develop the idea of discipline in bite size portions.

Being disciplined is to have "controlled behavior

resulting from disciplinary training; self-control."

This particular definition caught my attention tonight because of it's reference to "controlled behavior" and "self-control". It reminded me of a passage I read recently in a book regarding gentleness as mentioned in I Peter 3: 3-6. "...it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight."

"Gentleness, or meekness as many translations have it, isn't weakness or spinelessness or timidity or even niceness. This word in classical Greek was used to describe tame animals, soothing medicine, a mild word, and a mild breeze. It is a word with a caress in it.

Gentleness also implies self-control. Aristotle said that gentleness is the mean between excessive anger and excessive angerlessness. So the person who is gentle is able to balance his anger. He controls it.

Meekness/gentleness is strength under control. The gentle woman is strong! She is in control of her fears. She is as strong as steel."

Biblical Womanhood in the Home

--Edited by Nancy Leigh DeMoss--

The disciplined woman is going to exhibit a meek and gentle spirit. She will be characterized by self-control. To have self-control is to have "control of one's emotions, desires, or actions by one's own will".

But, how does a person cultivate a life characterized by self-control? Our tendency is to pursue our own desires, to seek after our own will, and particularly as women, we often battle to control our emotions. How do we get a handle on self-control?

• To have self-control involves an aspect of selflessness. Wouldn't you agree that to be disciplined is to lay aside selfish tendencies? Think of an athlete...they lay aside the desire for the immediate gratifications of life in order to train and discipline their bodies so that they might achieve a specific goal.

• Above all, in order to have a life characterized by self-control, we must immerse ourselves in the Word of God. "As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue...But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. " (II Peter 1: 3, 5-8)

It is only through time spent with our Savior that we will begin to gain an ability to truly bring our emotions, our actions, our thoughts under the discipline of our will. It is only through time in the Word that we can bring our will under subjection to the will of our heavenly Father. When our own will aligns with His will, that is when we can begin to gain a life characterized by self-control and therefore, discipline!