FOR LACK OF DISCIPLINE THEY WILL DIE.  ~Proverbs 5:23

Yep, that’s going to be our next memory verse.

Everywhere I look, people are quitting.  Including myself.  I do not want that for my children.  I want them to GET what it is to STAY, to WORK HARD, to FINISH.

Even as thoughts starting swirling this morning, I had every intention of busting out an hour of cardio and almost quit after 15 minutes.  I didn’t quit.  This time.

I get a little… a LOT concerned about the trendy quotes that flood our news feeds.  Like “Listen to your heart” and “Live with no regrets” and one of the latest…

“Do what makes you happy!”

YES – I ‘m all for that.  I practice that myself.  Maybe a little too much at times.  Here’s the thing –

HAPPY is a FEELING.

We all know that living by feelings is a sure way to end up miserable.

Doing what makes you happy is good, but to QUIT as soon as you don’t FEEL HAPPY – no good.

After doing some life evaluation, this is the principle that screamed in my head:

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN “DO WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY”

and GETTING WHERE YOU WANT TO BE –

is DISCIPLINE. 

DISCIPLINE. It is such a foreign, sexy, mysterious thing that is becoming more RARE.  Unfortunately, we are accustomed to a destructive normal where we quit, call in, jump off, go home, spend, and live in ways that make us happy –  but living by “happy” eventually makes us STUCK.   Headed somewhere but never getting anywhere but back to square one.  If we cannot press through, FINISH what we start, COMMIT TO THE PROCESS – we may find some happy moments, but the general feeling of misery and struggle will always prevail.

And guess what??  STAY or GIVE UP —> EITHER WAY YOU HAVE TO WORK HARD!!  Either way energy is spent and LIFE GOES ON.  Either you stay where you are or you move closer to where you want to be.  Which is it going to be?

I am finding this so true in my own life.

When I don’t practice a dance skill, if I don’t write, if I don’t make changes in my marriage or parenting — it doesn’t matter what I want to do, I’m incapable of achieving my goals  if I refuse to be disciplined enough to grow – to commit to practice and preparation.

If I spend money that was clearly budgeted for a bill – guess what!!  The bill doesn’t get paid… wow.  Amazing concept.  No matter how much tithe – you can’t outgive your lack of discipline.

If I eat and work out like a rockstar Monday through Thursday and let it all go Fri, Sat, Sun – guess what – That’s about 16 days of GOOD and 12 days of BAD  – not a lot of change going to come from that 4 day difference.

BALANCE.  There has to be balance. Two things here:

1.  FINISH.  If you find you are somewhere you aren’t happy, discipline means you FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED.  FULL OUT.  GIVE IT EVERYTHING.  Then, when you’ve completed the task, the job, the project, the whatever – JET.  Staying to the end is what changes your life.  Discipline and commitment may not change the situation, but it changes YOU.  Isn’t that kinda’ the idea here?

2. DISCIPLINE and ADDICTION are not the same thing.  Maybe you rock everything.  If you can kill it at budgeting or dieting or running or being a wife or mom – awesome – but if you miss a workout or forget to sign the parent sheet or make a mistake and life spirals out of control and you cannot accept yourself as already a complete being with unchanging value regardless of what you can DO – that’s not discipline.  That’s probably compulsion that’s killing you and everyone around you.  Stop the madness.  You may have to GIVE UP what you feel you CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT to figure out what true contentment is.

Where is the balance in all of this? Only YOU can decide that for you.  What do you need to FINISH?  Where do you need to FULLY COMMIT to the process? And where do you need to LET GO so you can give more where it really matters.

At the end of the day – if you’re not where you need to be, don’t jet – get fully committed, finish the race.  Then you will see more clearly and be more prepared for what’s next. The PROCESS IS THE ACTUAL GUT OF LIFE.

Doing what makes you happy is SO GOOD.

But, maybe CHOOSING to BE HAPPY right WHERE WE ARE is what actually stops the spiral of misery and sparks change.

And what of PASSION???  Instead of NOT working because you aren’t exactly where your passion may be headed – WORK HARDER.  And WITH A SMILE!  Change YOUR ATTITUDE!!!  If you’re suffering through it, you’re probably causing others Be faithful where you are, and God will give you more.  Test that concept, I dare you.  Time is a truth revealer.

In a world of quitters, NEVER GIVE UP.  STAY.  KEEP GOING.

I have a few things to go get done, not because I feel like it, but because doing it will get me where I want to be later.

Where are you giving up when you should be giving more?  What have you committed to that is falling to the wayside?  A relationship? A job? A dream?

 

A little more discipline in your relationships will probably get you better relationships.

A little more discipline with your money will probably get you more money.

A little more discipline in prayer will probably start unleashing more power.

 

A little more discipline in _________ will probably get you __________.

Dig your heels in and PRESS ON.  Not obsessively to toot your own horn or add to accomplishments and achievements – but simply because discipline can take you places you’ve never been.  A finish line is a marvelous thing to behold, even more amazing to cross it.

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.  Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace (the opposite of chaos), for those who have been trained by it. 
~Hebrews 12:11