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
