A Year of Discipline: The Effort

Day Seventeen into a Year of Discipline....

Day Seventeen of doing devotions regularly.

At first it was wonderful. I felt disciplined and excited that I was getting a handle on my spiritual life. I was being very good at making sure that my devotions were done early in the day. But then the inevitable thing happened . . . I put off doing them until later on in the day. I had things to do until late in the evening. I was tired. So tired.

At that point, I had a choice. I could go to bed and throw away my discipline, or I could do it. What did I do, I'm sure you are all asking with bated breath. Well, I sat down, and I did them, with much help from my husband Luke. I kept falling asleep and jerking awake as I read my Bible. I kept falling asleep while I was trying to pray, but I kept waking myself up (with help from my hubby). And we both did it. We finished our devotions and we did our couple devotions as well.

As I was thinking about it, I realized something. I knew I didn't get much out of my devotions that night (or the few nights were things like that have happened), but it wasn't so much about what I was getting out of, but rather what I was putting into it. It was more important that I did my devotions and continued in the habit of it, then it was to get something amazing out of it. Now, every night shouldn't be me falling asleep and jerking awake, but when that is what it takes to get it done, then I should do that. It is better to continue in the habit than to just give up. Putting the effort into the discipline is part of the discipline.

As Rhonda H. Kelley says "Self-control is definitely a behavior - a deliberate action, the ability to act . . . Behaviors including self-control are learned responses . . . Remember, recommitment to divine discipline is an ongoing process, a daily decisions." (Kelley, Personal Discipline 21, 26).

Not only that but, "He stresses the truth that 'self-discipline is doing something even if you hate it or don't feel like doing it.' In other words, discipline is not needed to do things you like. It is necessary to do the difficult things in life. You must discipline yourself to do those things that are difficult for you!" (Kelley, Personal Discipline 27).

As day seventeen comes to a close, I am reminded that I need to continue to press forward towards the goal. I need to make time for God. I need to make it a priority. And when I am so tired I can barely keep my eyes open, I still need to do the hard things and continue on towards discipline.  

A Year of Discipline: Day One/Two

I walked across the parking lot yesterday as the wind swirled around me. December 31 seemed determined to bluster and blow away the old year and usher in a new, gloriously clean year. My thoughts were on the idea of the new year. I've always liked the idea of newness. Of starting over. Of having no mistakes behind you. That is why I always love starting new things on Sundays (the start of a new week), first days of the months, and things like that. But January 1 on a Sunday has to be the ultimate new, fresh, beginning. A new, blank slate with no mistakes in it, or so Anne might say. But as I felt the jerking of the wind against my sweater, I felt the jerking of my heart. It didn't feel like a new start. The sickness that had sneaked upon me on Christmas still lingering, I felt sick and exhausted. My house had been a construction site for the past weeks, and the dust was still lingering. I felt utterly and completely unmotivated. Less than unmotivated, I felt like giving up entirely on everything. Not the best way to start off the new year.

However, Luke and I had a plan. Early in December we had decided that 2012 was going to be a Year of Discipline for us. We both know that we struggle with discipline, and lately, we have decided that we want to change that. Since I had become disillusioned with new year's resolutions many years ago, I had started trying to do monthly goals. This, along with some inspiration from other sources such as The Happiness Project, led to The Year of Discipline.

The plan is simple. Every month we have a category to work on. Within that category we will make about three specific goals to work on that month. However, it is also accumulative. So, in February we have to do both January and February's goals. So by December we should (hopefully) be a little disciplined in many areas of our life.

We shall see how it progresses.

Our January Category is Spiritual.

Our goals:

1. 30 minutes of personal devotion time (with 10 minutes specifically for prayer) every day.
2. 15 minutes of couple devotion time (with 5 minutes specifically for prayer) every day.
3. Going to church every weekend.

So begins the Year of Discipline...