A Matter of Discipline

"Thus you are to know in your heart that the LORD your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son." Deuteronomy 8:5

"In the wilderness He fed you manna which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do good for you in the end." Deuteronomy 8:16

"It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons, for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?" Hebrews 12:7

"But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? Hebrews 12:9-10

I think these verses all represent a bit of what I'm experiencing these days. I will confess that there have most definitely been days where I really want to just take a break from my daily quiet time. Usually I wake up, get my coffee and then head for the computer. Sitting at the computer I pull out my Bible or pull up a devotional website, depending on my mood, say a quick prayer to open my eyes this morning and get reading. After I have read, I reflect for a while personally on what I've read, and then I pray about it. After I've prayed I head here to share what I have discovered. This blog is what has kept me accountable every day. And some days I'm just tired, and I want to do nothing. And then I think about the people who check in here daily, and I know I need to muster it up and get going. I am always glad when I do, but man, some days it's sooo hard! I think this whole process has been a means of God disciplining me.

God wants me to have my time with him. He knows that my day goes much better if I start it in His Presence. And it really does, I can tell the difference. I am a much better wife and mother because of my daily time. And yet there are other aspects that I still need some discipline on. One is this computer actually. I spend my time blogging in the morning, and I have gotten better about not sitting in front of the computer all day, but there are still days where I will just sit and spend a couple of hours doing nothing. What a waste of time! Two hours that I've frittered away for what... instead I could have been playing a game with Zander, or curled up on the couch snuggling him, or getting dinner prepared ahead of time so it's not such a mad rush at the end. I have been cautiously asking God for help with this. Part of me is afraid that if I ask for too much, he'll take my computer away entirely... although realistically I know that's not true. I think that great things are happening here... daily when I check my statistics, I see people checking in here from all around the world. And with God's help, a few seeds have been planted.

Discipline. We all need it. Children need to be raised with some discipline, it's a fact. In the same way, we as children of God need our own discipline to help us grow and become good Christians and become closer to him.