A New Year, A New You

Last year, unknowingly, I chose one word to characterize my year. I did a study on TRUTH and that is what my year was shaped by. One small study and my whole year was revolutionized! The Lord kept impressing on me this need for TRUTH in my life and so it became my central theme. I must tell you that this was much more effective in changing me than any New Years Resolutions I've ever made in the past.

And so this year, I've decided to do the same idea again, only with a little more purpose. I began to assess how I wanted to be different in 2012 and could have quickly come up with a long resolution to-do list. But, instead, I looked at the common factor in all that I wanted to accomplish and came up with one word--DISCIPLINE.

I want to be a more disciplined person. I'm so undisciplined that several years ago I began a blog series on discipline and never actually completed it! *gasp* So, instead of writing that list of resolutions, I choose to focus on this one thing for the Lord to nurture in my life...a life characterized by discipline. If my mind, my attitude, my heart is characterized by discipline then all the things that I could have put on my resolution list will slowly but surely come to fruition. Not only that, but I will be a changed person and it will be a change not just for 2012 but will hopefully effect me for many years to come. I like this idea of choosing one central focus...it keeps me from getting lost in the details and keeps me focused for the year with a realistic hope of success!

What about you? What are you seeking after in this new year?

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!

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.