The Power of Discipline

How we do anything is how we do everything.  It’s an unfortunate truth that can only be learned through coming up short.

We love to think the little things don’t matter.

It’s just the bed.
Just the dishes.
Just the weeds in the yard.
Just showing up five minutes late.
Just skipping today’s workout.

But life has a funny way of exposing our habits. How we do anything is how we’ll eventually end up doing everything. That’s certainly been my experience. The small things are never really small. They’re practice. They’re the daily votes we cast for the person we want to become.

You can often tell a great deal about someone’s life by the way they care for what has been entrusted to them. Their home. Their work. Their preparation. Not because perfection matters, but because attention does. These things aren’t proof of someone’s character—they’re often clues to what’s happening beneath the surface.  

When we’re struggling, it’s usually the simple disciplines that disappear first…because they’re simple/easy to do, they are also usually easy to not do – The bed goes unmade. The house gets cluttered. The yard grows wild. We stop preparing.

The weeds should never need permission to grow.

That’s why making our bed isn’t really about making our bed. It’s about becoming someone who keeps promises to themselves. It’s about proving that discipline isn’t reserved for the big moments—it actually lives in the ordinary ones.

And the same is true for our spiritually.

God doesn’t ask for just Sunday morning. He asks for our whole life. Our work. Our conversations. Our finances. Our marriage. Our thoughts. And our private moments when no one else is watching.

Righteousness isn’t something we put on when it’s convenient. It’s a way of living. And until every part of our life is placed in His hands, we will never experience the true freedom/energy/love that comes from living fully in His ways. Am I saying that I experience this freedom all the time? Absolutely not…but I have experienced it!

So start with the small things this week.  That’s where extraordinary lives are built.

mm