My Love/Hate Relationship With Discipline

Discipline.

It’s a concept I have a love/hate relationship with, for sure. I know the value of it and when I am pursuing it my life is so much better. More streamlined. More vibrant. More productive.

But it’s always been a struggle for me. Always.

I’m better know than I have ever been, but it’s still something that takes great work. And I find myself wishing that it was something that came more naturally to me.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what holistic discipline looks like in our lives, and what it takes to have each of these areas working as they should.

I need discipline in my relationships and in my leadership.
I need to be disciplined as it pertains to my spiritual growth (sort of the traditional understanding of spiritual disciplines).
I need to be disciplined physically, in how I sleep, how I exercise, and how I eat.
I need to be discipline in my personal holiness (striving for a Christ-like character in my daily interactions).
And I need to be disciplined in my work.

It takes intentionality. It takes commitment. And (unfortunately) it takes discipline to be disciplined.

But, in what I believe is another one of the great paradoxes in Christianity, l believe life is actually more free, more vibrant, and more fulfilling when we are disciplined.

So, I’ll keep struggling away. It’s always going to be a struggle for me, I guess, but I know growth occurs in this tension. And the alternative is simply not an option.

• Do you struggle with discipline?


• What areas are you stronger in than others?


• And what do you do that helps you STAY disciplined?