Discipline

One of the things I need work on in my life is discipline.

A good example of this is my diet. For a while, a few years back, I was doing a very good job of watching what I ate. Instead of soft drinks, I would just drink water. Instead of potato chips, I would eat pretzels (is this better?). Instead of fried foods, I tried to eat grilled or baked foods. I cut out candy almost completely. Instead of eating seconds, I just had one serving.

You know the drill. It was a disciplined diet, versus an undisciplined diet. Easy to talk about, tough to actually stick with.

Well, lately I find that my discipline in this area has eroded. And if I'm perfectly honest, I'd have to say that my self-discipline in the area of spiritual things has slipped a bit as well. In the spiritual area, I'm talking about things such as daily quiet times, time in prayer, time studying the Word, reading Christian books, etc.
And in the same way that my bad eating habits has resulted in gaining a few pounds, my spiritual lack of discipline has resulted in some significant "loss of muscle tone" in my walk with Christ.

I do realize that it is a long series of small, poor choices that adds up to us finding ourselves where we don't want to be, and didn't think we'd ever end up. So, I have resolved to try and start making wiser choices, both in the area of my eating and in the area of my spiritual life. Apples instead of Pop-tarts, water instead of Coke, Bible reading instead of web surfing, prayer instead of talk radio.

Hopefully, a month from now, I'll be able to report back that I am more fit and trim, both physically and spiritually... Oh well, I'm off to eat an apple!