A Year of Disciplines

The Narrow Path

A Year of Disciplines

Last January the Lord gave me the word Discipline for my word for the year.  There have been several times in my life that he has given a theme word to guide and direct the days of the coming year. So early in January I sat down and planned the first few months of “disciplines.”  One of my goals was to be healthier mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and physically.  A goal most people set out with in January.  At this point in my life I know what healthy productive people do.  

They get up early.  They exercise regularly.  They eat healthy food.  They are daily in God’s word.  They go to bed early.  They are not scrolling endlessly.  They don’t watch much TV. They read.  They spend time in community. They manage money well.  They control impulses.

So figuring out what is realistic and what works for my schedule and this season of life was the goal of this journey.  So I set disciplines each month and then evaluated how I felt at the end of each month to figure out which tools, which habits truly were beneficial.  It was also obvious which disciplines were just really hard to do for me.

Here are the Disciplines I attempted last year:

January

• Bible Recap

• No touching the remote - so I could not watch TV, goal to eliminate nightly TV

February

• No spend month

• No sweets

March

• Pescatarian Diet

• Prayer Walk weekly

• Bed by 10:00 pm

April

• 30 Minutes beyond my recap of time in the word and prayer meditation

• 10 minutes of reading daily

• 5 Minutes of Abs

May

• Fast- No sugar and look for hidden sugars in the foods I eat

• Send an encouraging text every day

• Encourage husband every day

• Relax more

June

(Took month off of new disciplines)

Continued Walking and Bible Recap

July

• Do weights daily

• Reset Kitchen nightly

• Daily Journal

• Eat for nutrition and not emotions or socially.

August

• Focus on Humility- included biblical word study

• Intentionally putting others first

• Eliminate unnecessary spending - eating out

September

• Yoga/wall Pilates 

• Bed by 10:30

• Continue Reduced Spending

• Intentional prayer - Friday MOPS

October

• Thrown off by Helene

• Walk 10,000 steps a day

• Eat less calories -Cut portion size

• Prayer time weekly with church

• Fasting 1 day a week

November

• Gratitude daily

• Continued lower portion size

• Walk 10,000 steps daily

December 

• Intentional Act of kindness/generosity daily

• Speaking blessings on everyone.  Praying blessings on Dave, Noah and Emma daily. 

So what did I learn?  Most people looking in on my life would think I was a pretty disciplined person.  What I know is that discipline is hard and being consistent is one of the issues I have.  One discipline I have always had is a daily quiet time.  I am pretty consistent in that and have always been. It is like air to me.  What I have learned throughout this year is that there are certain disciplines that really do make my life better. Like going to bed earlier, getting up early. It is hard to do daily disciplines.  It is hard to do the hard stuff in the moment for a better result later.  

What I have learned is that I eat too much.  So cutting calories and eating for nutrition and not because it was time to eat or eating emotionally helped the most and after 8 months of trying different things I did start to lose a few pounds.   Going to bed is my nemesis.  I am a night owl, but I also have to get up early to get exercise in my day.  So I have been sleep deprived for years.  My meager attempts to go to bed early were my worst fails in the disciplines this year.  My favorite discipline was the intentional acts of kindness and  generosity.  I logged those in my journal. That was fun.  Logging them gave me some accountability. It also made me think about others more and be more intentional to look for ways to bless others.  This was especially true in public, being more kind waiting in line, helping someone who was struggling, paying for someone’s purchase.

Disciplines I continued.  I was able to complete the 365 days in the Bible Recap - not every day, sometimes I had to play catch up.  But I finished it. I have completed a daily quiet time and 5 days a week I exercise.  I have switched more to muscle building and walking rather than cardio.  That is working for me. Journaling daily, even just a sentence or two was also helpful and a continued discipline just to check in with myself and get the feelings out. 

Two disciplines I know would be helpful for quality of life and they go hand in hand… TV time and going to bed early.  If I could just go to bed by 10 that would be life changing. The struggle is turning the TV off or never turning it on. That would tremendously help.  This was successful in January but I did not sustain it.  So an area to grow in.  I learned it is my wind down time for the day.  So switching to another way to wind down to get to bed quicker would be helpful. 

Discipline is necessary because we drift toward ease and comfort.  Especially in our current culture we want to be comfortable.  Discipline is not natural, but it is necessary.  I had a client recently acknowledge “I have chosen easy for years and now I am paying the consequences.”  Almost everything worthwhile in life takes discipline.  Whether it is keeping a clean home, managing finances, managing health, living a mentally healthy life, developing strong relationships, all of this takes intentionality.  We don’t drift toward health, we drift toward complacency.  We don’t drift toward holiness, we drift toward sin.  Intentionally through discipline we create the life we want.  If we are not disciplined and intentional, then we too create the life we are living.  

There are always excuses.  I have used many of them.  But at the end of the day, if I am not happy with the life I am living, it is ultimately up to me to change it.  What I have learned this year is that discipline is the key to the life I want.  I want to be healthy physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.  I want healthy relationships with good boundaries and people I can be safe to be around.  I want a deep, abiding relationship with God, my savior and father.  I want intimacy with the people in my life.  I want to make a difference in the community I live in.  But most importantly I want to stand before God some day and hear, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”  

That is the life I am intentionally living.  One day, One discipline at a time. What are you living for?  What are you doing today to make your life better tomorrow?  What are you doing today to make others’ lives better?  What legacy will you leave?  We all leave a legacy.  Some will be positive, some negative.  Some will be remembered for longer periods of time.  But we all leave an imprint.  What will yours be?