Help
With Your Rule
But I Don't Want To...
"When you think of the word discipline, what comes to mind? For many it is an overdemanding teacher or a controlling parent. Try to set aside that notion of discipline and think of the discipline an athlete freely chooses to bring the best out of himself or herself...
"The problem is that we don't want discipline. We want someone to tell us that we can be happy without discipline. But we can't. In fact, if you want to measure the level of happiness in your life, measure the level of discipline in your life. The two are directly related.
"Think about it. Americans spend $30 billion [each] year on diet products. The only diet most of us need is a little bit of discipline. But we don't want discipline... We want someone to get on television and tell us if we take this little pill twice a day we can eat whatever we want, whenever we want, and as much as we want, and still look like supermodels. It is another of the great myths of our modern popular culture, the idea that we can be happy without discipline. It's a lie, it's a myth, it's an illusion, and somewhere deep inside, we know that."
Matthew Kelly in "The Seven Levels of Intimacy", A Fireside Book, Simon and Schuster, New York, 2005, pp60, 62-63.
posted by Holly at 1:22 PM
3 Comments:
Advent is coming up. A time of waiting for Christ's revelation. A time of preparation.
The greatest way to prepare is to enter into a period of deep reflection and purification, to make straight the mountains and valleys of sin and sloth and prepare a way for the Lord.
Let's discipline ourselves this Advent. Let's start by seeing what it is the Lord wishes us to do. Perhaps a little time pre-Advent to go over our 5 Ps on a deeper level:
What is the purpose of this P or priority?
Am I living this priority well or am I slacking off?
What do I need to reflect on more over Advent?
What do I need to change?
And then. We begin to put into practice those things which relate to our becoming more faithful stewards of God's creation, more faithful mothers and wives, more faithful Christians...
For discipline is nothing other than real self-love , love of the best kind, love which "brings out the best in the other", except, that "other" is ourselves...
I love this. Thank you. You are the first person who has spoke to me deeply on exactly what kind of discipline I want in my life. It seems as if you read my mind!
I read on a sign in a school a couple of weeks ago the phrase, "Discipline is remembering what you really want." I have been trying to apply that to my attitude.
Good reflection! I read something the other day which relates to this - obedience as a spirit of cooperation... a new little slant on an old word...
Post a Comment
<< Home