Discovering Discipline

Discipline is defined as the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience. I was thinking yesterday on our 12 hour drive home from Sioux Falls, that I talk about discipline a lot in my posts, but I never talk about how I became disciplined. So I thought, I need to address that in my next blog post. I believe that you can't become disciplined by yourself, I think you become disciplined by learning and observing disciplined like behavior from people around you. I don't know if anyone has ever been born with the gift of being disciplined, because being disciplined is a practice of training people, it's not a gift like being tall, or a spiritual gift. I do believe that once you learn how to be disciplined that it becomes a gift.

How did I become disciplined? I became disciplined from watching the people around me. It started with work ethic. I remember growing up, and my dad would always wake up early in the mornings to work out and he would wake up early to work overtime at work. I am not talking at like 8 a.m. either, the man wakes up at like 5 everyday. He gets up and gets so much work done before a lot of people are even out of bed. I didn't understand when I was younger, but I remember my mom telling me that my dad works so hard and has always been very disciplined. I remember asking my dad why he always does everything so early in the morning and he always told me that he loved to get a head start and get things done before other people. I took that concept and ran with it. As soon as I began high school, I remember those early mornings of lifting weights and getting shots up way before the sun came up. I watched and observed my dad's work ethic and discipline and became a hard worker myself. It wasn't intentionally doing it either, it was just one of those things that I noticed. Another group of people that I observed were my high school basketball coaches. Archbold High School boys basketball has the second most wins in the state of Ohio all-time. Growing up, the teams were incredibly successful. I was a huge fan. Going to every game, watching the deep tournament runs they had, watching the players that I looked up too. I wanted to be like them. I wanted to experience what they did when I got to high school. I wanted to be good and I wanted to win lots of basketball games. I was the manger when I was in 5th and 6th grade so I remember watching the team practice every single day. I saw the work that they had to put in every single day in order to be successful. Discipline started at a very young age for me. Hard work and winning were two things I loved, which is one of the reasons I ended up at Bethel. Once I got to Bethel I continued to learn what it meant to work hard. Hard work requires discipline. You can't work hard one day, take two days off and do it again. To be successful, you have to give it everything you have every single day and that is when you will become successful. One of my best friends texted me the other day, and told me he was a little nervous for the tournament to start because of how high the expectations were and how well they did last year. I told him what my coach always tells us, I told him that they have earned the wins they are going to get because the body of work that they have put in their entire season and career.

Being disciplined in one area of your life can lead to you becoming disciplined in other areas. You know what it takes, and you have what it takes.

I am very thankful to say that I am disciplined when it comes to my work ethic. Being disciplined in that area of my life has led to many blessings and many opportunities. Becoming spiritually disciplined has been one of the greatest achievements in my life. So how did that start? One thing that comes to mind that happened in high school was praying after basketball games. Zeb Frank was a senior on the team when I was a sophomore. He started started leading prayer after basketball games with both of the teams. We would circle up at center court and pray. When we played our final basketball game together, the first thing he told me was that he wanted me to continue the tradition and that if he came back and saw that we weren't praying after games that he wasn't going to be happy. So I led prayer after basketball games, every game after my junior and senior year. It was difficult sometimes, because you had to toss to the side everything that happened during the game between the teams to pray. Sometimes I didn't like the guys I played against and I know that they didn't like me. But basketball for me was bigger than just basketball. Praying after games like that is something that stopped after high school for me, but observing Zeb and learning from him led to discipline. Right now I am more spiritually disciplined then ever. I remember hearing one time that once you do something for more than 21 days that it becomes a habit. When I started getting into reading my bible on a daily basis over the summer, I remember trying so hard to do it every day for that first 21 days. I don't know why it is that way for me, but I just have it mentally engraved in my mind that if I can do something for 21 days straight then it's something that I can do every single day. It was tough to get that 21 days completed. There are days where you don't feel like it, days where you don't have time, days where you might even forget. But what I learned is that at the time when you don't want to do something and you do it, is when it becomes a true habit, which leads to discipline which for me, leads to an addiction. I am addicted getting into the word on a daily basis. Sure there are days where I seriously don't have time, and don't get it done...that is totally okay! God still loves me. It's been months and I have went through 4 or 5 journals and I am addicted to spiritual growth because of being disciplined. It's all a process...it has taken me my whole life to become spiritually disciplined and that discipline has lead to me feeling God's presence more in my life than I ever have. You are going to struggle, it's a rollercoaster. Remember you are not alone. One of the things that helped me was having people in my life who would hold me accountable. Don't roll your eyes because you probably hear that over and over again...I know it gets a little annoying to hear all the time. But it works. If that person in your life is constant and is there for you and wants you to grow, one of these times something is going to click and your life is going to change.

I must say again, that I am not perfect and I am not trying to get you to model your spiritual life after mine. I am just trying to encourage you the best that I can. I want people to feel God's presence because of a disciplined, on fire, relationship for Christ. I don't want you to have to wait till your 21, or even further down the road to experience how amazing life is when you dedicate all of yourself to God. I encourage you to not take for granted the people who are around you. You never know what God might be teaching you through them. Keep your eyes open and your heart open as well. Becoming disciplined in any walk of life can be difficult for someone, but once you figure it out...the world is going to have to watch out for you. Discovering discipline is a never ending process that I hope you can start today.