Discipline

For the whole of my Christian life I have had difficulty disciplining myself to read my bible and pray regularly. This has made my walk with Christ a hard thing to maintain. I know that I lack self-discipline. I have the same problem in my physical shape. Sometimes I become motivated to get in shape, and I start a plan to get there that inevitably fades out of importance as soon as something else catches my attention. When I am surrounded by strong Christians and powerful biblical messages, I reach a spiritual high and desire to catch fire for Christ and start reading my bible all the time. This, too, falls away soon thereafter. Lastly, this lack of discipline affects my academic life as well. I start the school year off strong, but quickly become distracted and lose focus, making every assignment a scramble at the last minute. It's time for change.


Recently I have been challenged through RA training to train my body, mind and spirit continually. It seems that they are all intertwined. Every morning, my RD wakes us up for a morning work-out before breakfast. This work-out is not on our training schedule, however, I have come to expect it nonetheless. Instead of breakfast at 7:00, I know that exercise at 6:15 is now first on the morning schedule. The first morning, it was very difficult to pull myself out of my bed and get dressed. The second day it became a bit easier, but when we skipped day three it was that much harder to do it again on day four. It's one of those things that gets easier the more you do it. The key is to not break the pattern. When you're running, people will tell you, "If you stop to rest, that will only make it harder to start back up again." It's the same way with waking up in the morning to actually do the work-out.


It also applies to reading my bible each day. At first, it's hard to get started and build a habit; but I know that the more I do it, the more I will want to do it. It's all about perseverance. If I can push through at the beginning and create that habit, then I will have stretched myself enough so that I have the opportunity to grow. I don't expect that it will get too much easier to have my devotions every day, but at least I will have created that habit; and when the enemy attacks, I will be more ready for battle.


Lastly, I need to create a habit of discipline in my academic life. Now, I am twenty years old and am in my third year of college. One would think I had this down by now. Nope. I still procrastinate my school work. This all sounds so elementary, but I need to utilize things such as assignment notepads and things that help me keep myself organized so that I can be the best student possible. If I can create a habit of organization and diligence, then I know my grades will reflect that.


For me, training my body will overflow into the training of my spirit which will, in turn, translate to my mental organization and diligence. This way, I hope to become a better steward of the body God has given me, gain a closer walk with Christ, and produce the best year of academics to date.