Lent: "Discipline yourself, no one else will"

To learn, you must love discipline
Proverbs 12:1

Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary use words
Phil. 4:13

"Discipline yourself, no one else will"

Last year during Lent, I set out to do the following:

My sacrifice: ice cream -- oh how I savour the creamy goodness, even on cold days!! :)

To learn more about my faith, and to work on developing a closer relationship with God:

- read from two devotionals every night
- learn the Hail Holy Queen in it's entirety and correctly

I succeed at the first two, but not the last. GRR. This year!

"Discipline yourself, no one else will"

I thought about what to "give up" this year. I thought ice cream, but I realized that it wouldn't be very hard -- I haven't had any for a while! And, I want it to hurt. I want it to be hard, otherwise, it's meaningless.

Injuring my knee perhaps was the smack that I needed. Starting a new job and wanting to fit in, I thought taking up running since many of my co-workers are into it and something that I've always wanted to conquer was a good idea. As I sit here, knee hurting so much that the thought of bending it makes me want to cry... well... WHAT ON EARTH WAS I THINKING? I was told when I was younger that running would be difficult. My pilates teacher, right before I got injured looked at my knee and told me the exact same thing. Did I listen?? I've put things that I thought would be crazy to put first in front of the healthy (physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually), active life that I worked so hard to get back.

"Discipline yourself, no one else will"

So why keep repeating this phrase... it's one of the chapters from "God is in the Small Stuff and it all Matters". Simply, it's about living a simple, inward looking life. It isn't about outward things. It's about practicing discipline daily, in small steps. I practiced this last year. I wanted to be healthy again, especially before going on my trip.

Healthy physically -- To be strong again... I lost my post-sickness (as I like to call it) weight. I was finally able to exercise regularly... and as I walked up hills in Quebec City and stayed up laaaate in Toronto and kept going the next day... I truly realized that I was over my illness.

Healthy spiritually -- I started going back to church regularly. A heart opened by the callousness of another... a stubborn child brought to her knees. I prayed more honestly, openly and with more faith than I had in a while. And, in finding my faith again, God blessed me. The opportunity to help with SPYAC. The opportunity to become a CORE leader. The resolve to not miss a Sunday of church (grr being sick to my stomach on Easter Sunday). A resolve so strong that I went to mass on my vacation more than I do at home.

With the physical and spiritual health came emotional and mental change... so much so, that the people around me noticed... so much so, that I noticed. So much so, that I loved the person that I saw reflected back more than I ever have.

By simplfying, by taking care of myself, by being faithful, accepting and happy whatever the circumstance, life became so much easier.

I want that again. Starting a new job and going through my first tax season has been challenging to say the least. The job can become all encompassing and the pressure at times... well, it's an adjustment. At times, because I'm tired when I get home, or frustrated, or overwhelmed, it's easier to let the other things slide. I don't want to. Those things that I let slide are much to important.

For Lent, my sacrifice is time.

Time is the most precious commodity to me right now and devoting some of it to reading daily and praying more will be a lot harder, but a lot more beneficial, than giving up ice cream. God created each of us in love. He created each of us to be His son or daughter, special, created in His likeness. We owe it to ourselves to honour and cherish our life and live in the best way possible. Not by material means but by faithfullness, by being good sons and daughters to our parents, to God... by being a good friend to those around us, forgiving to those who hurt us and loving to ourselves. I want to remember to only take on committments that I can honour, and to as much as practicable, honour them.

For Lent, I want to practice greater discipline.

I started tonight. Ordinarily, I may come home from work, eat dinner and watch tv. I came home, ate dinner and cleaned my room and tidied the living room. I put all my laundry into the appropriate laundry basket and will do it tomorrow. My desk is clean enough for the first time in weeks that I can sit at it and use it. This means that doing my homework, office work, volunteer work will be easier. I want to take care of myself.

I also found my "Daily Inspiration from the Purpose Driven Life" book that I bought while in California in August. I'm going to read from it and the Purpose Driven Life (conveniently 40 chapters) until the end of Lent.

And this year is the year I learn Hail Holy Queen.

It's going to be hard. It's a lot easier to come home, plop down in front of the tv or msn or just do nothing... and sometimes that's okay... but at the same time, I don't want to let the important things slide.

"Discipline yourself, no one else will"