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 345

My daughter and I went to see the new Disney movie, Frozen last weekend. It had a great message about fear and how love conquers fear. I am not going to do a spoiler on this so no worries if you haven’t gone to see it yet.

Have you ever wondered how another person can be so fearless while you are shaking in your boots? It is a part of who God made us to be. Some of us will have lots of fears and some of us will be fearless. Some of us will have problems with anger and some of us have no problem letting our anger out. Some of us will feel worthless for no reason and others will think they walk on water. God made us each in a unique way but in this uniqueness is a place for God to come in and take those troublesome parts of us and make them into something beautiful. His love will conquer our fears. His love will conquer our anger issues. His love will make you feel worthy. His love can do all this and more for the inner parts of you that only He can see.

He has helped me overcome my low-self esteem, my feelings of being unloved, my fears of what others think of me, my fears of being assertive with my feelings. He continues to work on the inner parts of me, refining me and weeding out those trouble areas in the inner garden of my soul. Don’t wait for some unknown to come and help you with “your stuff”. Don’t think you can do it all by yourself. Allow God to work within you by being in his Word. Through His Word I have learned so much but I have also taken it and applied it to my life. Let His Word become a part of who you are.

Psalm 97:11 Light is shed upon the righteous and joy on the upright in heart.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 44

The news has been depressing with all the talk about the government and budget crisis. I have often heard a politician say we have to be thinking about our children because what we do today will affect their lives. This made me think about what am I teaching my children, how well am I preparing them for their lives, are we laying a good foundation in faith so they will stay the course with the Lord as they grow up and become adults? By far the greatest blessing you can give to your children is a solid foundation for their faith. My foundation ended up cluttered with weeds that tangled with any real growth and overcame it. It wasn’t until my mid thirties when I went through the clash of my past sins with my current desire for a second child. This challenge led me to weeding the personal garden of my soul. I had to clear out all the weeds of sin and have since continued to go back in and pull those weeds that pop up so that my growth in faith continues. The Lord says we are to be talking the talk, walking the walk and communicating all that we know of Him to our children. These years when they are young are the times we as parents can prepare the soil and plant the seeds. A good garden will always do better when the soil has been prepared well. So no matter what may happen with our country or our physical life here on Earth, my children will hopefully have good soil and those seeds will blossom and I will teach them how to go to God for forgiveness and keep the weeds in the garden out. My children are such a blessing and have given me such joy and it is my hope and prayer that God will equip me to be a good gardener and keep preparing and richening their soil so the seeds being planted will blossom. Lord, help me to show them that you are the Way, the Truth and the Light. For their joy in you will be my joy too.

Proverbs 10:28 The prospect of the righteous is joy, but the hopes of the wicked come to nothing.