Discipline

Discipline, as a word, gets a bad rap much of the time.  And yet, in one sense (that of self-control) it is the way to order our lives, a way to keep ourselves on track.  The "D" word has been in my life a lot lately:  at church, at the gym, in the application to the Academy for Spiritual Formation, in the back of my own mind as I wrestle with daily choices.  (Surely just one piece of shortbread won't hurt...)

Unfortunately, I'm the kind of person that can't eat just one potato chip.  It has to be a gene from my mother!  And splurge I did.  Saturday while I was baking the shortbread for church and Sunday as I passed through the Fellowship Hall where a few pieces of shortbread were left on the table.  Did they taste good?  You betcha!  Were they worth the double splurge?  Probably not.  It helps to bear in mind just how long it takes to burn calories.  So yeah, it was off to the gym this morning.  Where...

Can you believe it?  I was on the stationary bike doing about 10 miles/hour.  A couple bikes down from me was a man (middle ageish, fairly slim) who was peddling away very slowly.  His earphones were on; the tv screen was lit.  As I pondered his (slow) speed I though perhaps he was in recovery from surgery and taking things easy as he got "back into" things.  And then!  He had one of those tiny brown bags from Starbucks in one hand  and was dipping the other hand into the bag, grabbing a bit of brownie, and eating it as he exercised!  My first thought?  Geez, I wish I could exercise like that!
And then I chastised myself for the envy.  I know the realities of my physical fitness and limitations.  I also know the realities of my diet, cholesterol level, and how I feel.

So back to discipline.  I could surely use more in my life and will struggle on toward that goal. 

But would the world be bent out of shape if carrots tasted like chocolate?  Oh well,

life goes on.