Self-Discipline 101

I was thinking about discipline and recalling what I wrote for my book report for a book for my minister credentials and realized that my biggest motivation seems to be punishment. I had written about the cat litter and how I am getting more and more in the habit of checking on it and doing it more regularly because I don’t want to have my husband telling me the cat litter needs to be done. That just grates on my controlling side and makes me feel like a failure.  I started thinking about disciplining being a choice and realized another example of when I chose to start flossing my teeth. I did not want to hear any more from the dentist on you need to floss your teeth. Yeah, I know,  I know!  I challenged myself to floss every day and it became a habit that I cannot live without now. In the end, I no longer have the negative side of the dentist telling me I need to floss but him praising me for having my teeth look so good. The “punishment” got me motivated but the rewards made it worthwhile to keep it up and keeping it up instilled it into my life so much so that I cannot go without it. So, I am going to choose to start my blogging every day again and it will be about disciplining yourself, especially for the inner self, the garden of our soul. My goal is to work on the spiritual disciplines of prayer, study, meditation, memorization and fasting. The inner garden of our soul needs to be worked on like any garden if you want it to be beautiful and productive. In working my real garden this summer, I realized how much you have to look after it. It needs to be watered every day whether it is from the hose or from the rain, YOU have to make sure it gets the water it needs. So, ask yourself every day have I watered the garden of my soul? Have I spent time in God's Word getting fed from it? It isn't about how much time you spend, it is about doing a little bit every day to the point where you cannot live without it.

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. Genesis 2: 15

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 319

Reward is a strong motivating factor for some people depending on their temperament. When it comes to spiritual things like self-control, this reward motivation can be very helpful. Now, this will take some imagination. God gave us an imagination. We can utilize it to help us in serving and glorifying God through our thoughts and actions. My sweet tooth is a constant struggle as you are already aware. But through the power of the Holy Spirit and using my imagination, I am going to imagine my reward for self-control is not only being and looking healthier but that in Heaven, Jesus will come to me and say “you did it!”

2Corinthians 9:24-27 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 138

I watched a show I have never watched before last night called Undercover Boss. I heard from my co-workers that the CMO of ADT was going to go undercover. Since I deal with ADT a lot in my job, I thought it might be interesting. So the CMO went undercover as a reality TV show contestant who could earn money to start his own security company. He basically trained with several different people in the company at various jobs. All of the people were passionate about their job and shared with him some life struggles they were going through. In the end, he talks with them as the real him and lets them know some plans that are being set in place based on what he learned from them and they all got rewarded with money to help in their struggles. This was certainly a marketing idea to be on this show as it only showed ADT in a good light. It was very comforting to see the reactions to the rewards ADT was giving these employees. The last one was the most touching. He was a technician who had mostly to work on the weekends keeping him from his family but it was a must just so they could make ends meat. He was passionate about his job, respectful and courteous. He said he knew good things would come if he just kept going. Perseverance will be rewarded.

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 48

How often do we take the people we love for granted? Am I just surviving day to day or am I taking action? My letter pin for the month is "E". After my horrible mood the other day and the lingering discouragement issue, I felt led by God to turn the tables on that by having my daily reminder to be encourgaged and be encouraging. But another "e" word stood out to me and that was 'example'. My husband is a great example of service kind of love. He will get up and do whatever you need. He really is an amazing example of this love language. It's not my dominant love language but we are all capable of doing all the love languages and learn how to do the other love languages more and more. I often have thought maybe I am just 'lazy' but it really isn't a laziness, it's just not my love language but I am going to be working on it. Jesus was the greatest example of this when he knelt down and washed the dirty feet of the disciples. Jesus calls us to put our love into action. I am going to keep a list of the actions I take for others in the next month and see if I can increase those numbers as the month goes on and get better and serving others. Join me and challenge yourself this month to stop and serve whether it be in small ways or big ways.
Colossians 3:23-24 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will received an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.