For the Sake of Discipline

It’s very ironic that I am writing this blog now on Monday, September 5, 2011. I meant to write and post his on Thursday, September 1, 2011, but I just ‘never got around to it.’ That’s such a common phrase among my generation it seems. 

I was going to study abroad, but classes just didn’t line up and ‘I never got around to it.’

I always had a passion for writing a book, but I got married, had two kids, and ‘I never got around to it.’

Yeah, I meant to call you back, but things got so busy and ‘I never got around to it.’

No, I was interested in her, but she was really busy that week and ‘I never got around to asking her out.’

What does your list say?

I know I have a list. Four feet long. Posting this blog is one that list, and will be crossed off momentarily. I believe that there is an overriding theme to the phrase ‘I just never got around to it,’ and I think this theme is written all over how we were brought up. We were brought up in the era of Internet, where research in libraries pouring over dusty old books was something ancient and ‘so last century.’ I don’t even think I would know where to begin in a library. We were brought up in the era that if it took longer than 30 seconds to assemble our food at Chick-fil-A we’d have our fingers a-tapping and our anxiety a-rising.

We didn’t have to get up at 5:30 am with the rooster to feed the pigs (like my mom) or spend the afternoons shoveling snow just so we’d have a walkway home (like my grandpa). We’d get up 10 minutes before the bus came, run our fingers through our hair, and cram a granola bar down our throats and call that our ‘morning prep for school.’ Let me tell you a little secret: when I was in elementary school, I HATED waking up for school. Let’s be honest; I still HATE getting up early. But when I was a kid I hated it so much that my mom would dress me in the bed while I was still sleeping so she wouldn’t have to deal with my morning grumpies. I would be sleeping like a log and she would be putting on my socks and pulling a shirt over my head. I was spoiled something fierce.

All of this to say, we grew up in a generation that lacked discipline. We lived in societies that didn’t require discipline, because the generation before us worked hard enough so that we wouldn't have to exercise discipline on a regular basis. They worked hard enough that we wouldn’t have to spend our nights reading encyclopedias in old libraries under an oil lantern; we could just look it up in two seconds on Google.

In thinking through all of this, I realized that I have very little discipline in my life. I’m very good at not doing the things that I don’t want to do. Today I’m tired, so I really don’t have to do Insanity. I know I really need to write him back, but I just don’t feel like it. I know eating this makes my stomach hurt, but it tastes so good. I’ll just eat it now and worry about it later. And you get the picture.

I've placed a challenge over my life, and I’m disciplining myself for the month of September. Just for the sake of discipline; to say I did it. Here are the ways I’m proving not only that I can do it, but that I will do it.

1.    Fasting from all forms of dairy. I've always had stomach issues, and I think it has something to do with dairy. While I was on the race, we rarely ate dairy, and I didn’t EVER get sick. Not even one time. The instant I got home and started eating rich, American food, there came the stomach issues again. So I’m eliminating what I think the problem is, and seeing if that fixes the issue. If it doesn’t, I know yummy ice cream and queso dip are not my nemeses.

2.    Exercising six days a week. When I was in Thailand, my friend Alicia and I did Insanity six days a week at 7am. I really can’t even tell you how we did that, but we did. We were dedicated and disciplined. So for the entire month of September I will be working out six days a week. I will do Insanity four times, hike a mountain once, and do P90X’s Ab Ripper to top it off, every week. I’ve got a little extra flub-a-dub-dub that I want to work off before the holiday treats find me.

3.    Dedicate time to writing. For those of you who don’t know, I’m working on something of a book project about my month in China. It’s a vision I got towards the end of the race, and I want to be intentional about writing it out and seeing what God does with it. Even if it is for my own processing, I’m going to dedicate significant time to writing it this month.

4.    Prayer. The three points I listed above are centered on prayer. That is really the only reason I am doing this ‘for the sake of discipline’ month, because I want to dedicate some serious time to prayer. Prayer for my family, my job, the book, and specific friends who are at major turning points in their lives. I know God is moving, and I want to call on some angels to help him get us where he wants us to go.

I’m never really good at ending blogs, so this is the end. My month of discipline starts today (really started on the 1st, but ‘I just never got around to’ writing this blog). What are some things you want to do this month that you’ve never gotten around to?