Path of Discipline

I’m a sucker for beginnings. I’m also a dreamer and optimist. And beginnings are the dreamer’s drug. I think this week will be better. This year will be the year. This opportunity will be the one that puts me over the top. This time will be different. And it shows up in everything from my health goals to the upcoming turkey season.

This season will be the one where I locate all the birds and outwit my limit. Yes, this is the one. I don’t know how many times I’ve thought those thoughts and said those words. Not only about my hunting successes, but about things that are so much more important. Has my optimism come to fruition? In some things it has and in others I am still struggling with the enemy of my dreams. Discipline. Yes discipline.

Someone said, the distance between your dreams and reality is discipline. I think they are right. The year I tagged more birds than any other year, was the year I got up nearly every morning and went to the woods, if only to hunt for an hour. I can remember those mornings when I really wanted to lie in bed. But I got up and went. Most of the time I should have stayed in bed but being persistent in my going ended up paying off. It’s like the phrase I have heard concerning the stock market.

“Time in the market is better than timing the market.” I believe that is true. It is the consistent, steady, even boring days that ultimately lead to the successes we all want. It’s the mundane days of exercise and diet that build the healthy body. It’s the daily input of positive information that builds the healthy mind. And it’s the daily deposit of truth that builds the spiritual life.

What is this spiritual life? It is the culmination of every other part of our life. A healthy spiritual life will be a cheerleader for physical and mental growth. It will fend off lies and protect us with truth. It will encourage dreams through the path of discipline. But it will also give us perhaps what we need more than anything else. Grace and mercy when we fall or fail. That’s why the greatest beginning might be the start of each day. The good promise of God is found there without stop.

The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. (Lam 3:22-23 NLT)