Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Make Your Bed: A Lesson in Discipline

I think most people will agree with me that we live in a society that lacks discipline.
If you don’t agree, take a look at New Year’s Resolutions for the last few years. We start a new “diet,” exercise regimen, reading our Bible daily, journaling, etc., and a few weeks later….done-zo. I know discipline and consistency are two things I have to really work on in my own life. It takes a lot of focus, energy, and intentional effort to be disciplined.

One of the most SIMPLE pieces of advice shared was to “Make your bed.”
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Every day.
No excuses.
This one small habit can lead to you being a more disciplined person overall, and that carries over into other areas of your life. (And surely we can all agree that a room looks SO MUCH CLEANER when the bed is made anyway, right?)
If you’re looking to improve your self- discipline in ANY area in your life, start by making your bed daily. This is something I have started doing again consistently (I was such a freak about this when I was younger & had some OCD tendencies), and I am amazed at how it has helped me become more consistent & disciplined in other areas. Even in my Bible study. It’s crazy how two seemingly unrelated things can affect one another.
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Here are a few other notes I jotted down as the speaker was sharing:
  • Focus on the things you can control every day.
  • The less room you make for excuses, the more room you make for opportunity.
  • Goals are a responsibility; NOT an option.
  • One of your biggest enemies in life is distractions/interruptions.
  • It takes 21 days to change a habit.
  • When you wake up, GET up.
  • Get a reading chair & read for 15 minutes every day.
  • Your life, your income, and your results are determined by the way you manage your time.
  • Plan your time strategically to give you the highest return on your energy.

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I’ll be the first to admit I get sucked into thinking I am being productive when in reality I am wasting time. I don’t watch t.v., but I do spend a lot of time looking through social media, reading blogs, etc. I need to be more mindful of that and make PRODUCTIVE use of my time daily- especially because I want to set that example for Jase.
Plus, I know that honors God.
Jonathan was telling me that one of his mentors/Bible study leaders was sharing with him the other day about how we are called to give 1/10th. We are called to give one tenth of our finances (that’s another blog post for another time), but that also means we are called to give back to God 1/10th of our TIME. He & I realized we are not giving God a tenth of our day & that is something we are both striving to improve…
Check out these Scriptures about discipline, and if you haven’t already, go make your bed. Smile
For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. – Hebrews 12:11
A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls. – Proverbs 25:28
But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. – 1 Corinthians 9:27
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.  - Galatians 5:22-23
For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. – 2 Timothy 1:7

7 comments:

christa said...

I do make my bed every day, for one reason, my cat always sleeps on it if I don't and I don't want cat hair on my sheets. The other thing I've been working on is doing all the dishes before going to bed and putting them away as soon as I get up in the morning.

Kae said...

How true is this post?

Scott and I were just discussing how society has changed so much, and lacks discipline recently.

I do make my bed everyday, and reading your post there is so many things that I need to become better disciplined in...

Thank you for the scriptures...love

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the post, Danielle. I was feeling a little unmotivated today and this was exactly what I needed to hear! Love your blog!

Justin and Marcie said...

Been following your blog for a while and I love this post!! I must work on it since I never make my bed :( I did have a question about advocare for you. I've already done the 24 day challenge and now I'm just sticking with the eating plan and taking spark and catalyst. My question is what is ok to take when pregnant? My husband and I will probably start trying for number 2 early next year and I was wondering if spark and catalyst are ok to take. I think I would die without spark!!!! Anyway, I think you may have been taking products when pregnant with Jase, but not real sure. Do you mind emailing me anything you know about pregnancy and their products? marciermorris@gmail.com. Thanks so much Danielle!!!

mistygeesling_09 said...

I have been following your blogs. . I love them all!! Your really a big inspiration to me in alot of areas in my life. Thank you sooo much!!

Unknown said...

How do you follow your blog? Maybe it's my browser, but I don't see a way and I'd really like to because we share MANY of the same views and values though we are of different faiths. And I think that is awesome!

http://lilgunnellfam.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Came across your comments when looking for scriptual lessons for my night reading. I still am OCD-make bed, wash dishes, fix pics- just not as extreme. A better spiritual focus is the priorty. Thanks for references.