The Undeniable Reward of Discipline

Many days, I begin writing without knowing what I’ll write about, and today is one of those days. My mind is a bit blank, but I find that Jesus always meets me here, filling that empty space with His words for me. For you. There’s something in the simple action of beginning to write, even without an outline, that feels like discipline, and ever since I was a young girl, discipline was rewarded.

And off we go…

My family and I often joke now about how my childhood carried a strictness none of the other children can fully understand (there are 7 of us “kids” in our blended family, and I am the oldest) - rules for me were plentiful and specific, and I was (mostly) content to follow them to please my parents. As time marched on in the way only time can, the parents grew older, the list of rules for the children grew shorter, and more allowances were made for bending those once sacred rules. 

Need an example? Thought you’d never ask. 

Here’s a family favorite to joke about: I wasn’t allowed to watch a PG-13 film in a school history class because I was only 12, and my dad wouldn’t sign the permission slip. That day, I sat in the office with the secretary while my class watched the movie, and if that doesn’t shout “LAME!” in middle school,  I don’t know what does. Conversely, my siblings were allowed to watch similar movies before their 12th birthdays. You can imagine my teenage angst and jealously when they were freely given privileges for which I had to wait years or when they got away with what I likened to murder (ever dramatic as a teen). Now that I’m on the other side of childhood, though, I am thankful for those lessons and boundaries because they serve me well as an adult.

Somehow, through toeing that line as a child, respect for rules and productivity and rituals (not the spooky kind) became part of who I am as a woman. Discipline followed me, a reminder that I’m capable of better. And though I have learned to give myself more grace in later years, I still carry the voice with me that occasionally yells, “Just get off your butt, and do it already!”

How do you think I launched this website? A combination of grace and hustle. 

For me, both are necessary.

I’m not a child psychologist, but I know from experience (as a former child and teacher), kids often follow rules for two reasons: they desire the positive consequences or they want to avoid the negative ones. As children, we needed people to tell us right from wrong, to reinforce or discourage our behavior - someone made us eat our vegetables, clean our rooms, apologize to our friends, and go outside to play. 

Then we grew up, and now we make the rules and follow them. We have to choose salad over pizza (sometimes), clean the entire house, apologize when we hurt someone, or make time for exercise, and no one is standing over us to hold us accountable. We are our own supervision.

Sometimes that feels scary.

And even more often, that feels powerful.

We are the makers and enforcers.

Going beyond simple chores and eating vegetables, we can make “rules” for our dreams, too. We can choose to work towards them or not; we can choose to make time for them, or not. We can choose the ritual of disciplined progress, or not. No matter what we choose, there are sure to be consequences, but the most negative consequence of all is giving up. 

Whatever dream you’ve set to the side, whatever goal you’ve decided was out of reach, I encourage you to pick it back up today. Hold it, just for a moment. Feel its weight, its power, its potential. And instead of allowing fear and failure to dominate your inner monologue, let hope and possibility take center stage. Imagine what will happen if you have the discipline to show up, even for just a few minutes a day (because, hey, sometimes that’s where we need to start).

Lastly, you are making your own rules now, but that doesn’t mean you are in it alone. Share your goals (and your rules) with people who love you. Ask them to pray with you, to push you when they know you’ve got more to give, and to remind you of why you started when you feel like stopping. I am blessed to have a village around me as I chase after this dream of mine. They cheer me on and give me grace and remind me of the sweet promises I made to myself and my readers (that’s you!). Knowing they are in my corner is enough to help me muster up the discipline on the days I just don’t feel like it.

And so I write, for myself, for them, for God, for you…even when I don’t know exactly what I’ll write about. I am confident that if I simply begin, the discipline of that beginning will be rewarded, and if I keep moving forward, I’m hopeful about where that momentum will lead.

After all, it is easier to keep pressing forward once you’re already moving.

So tell me, where are you going?