Category Archives: Discipline

focuses on the spiritual disciplines

Would everyone just take a seat and be quiet please?

August 21, 2019Discipline, Encouragement, Musings of a blonde brainlaura

Every year I get a devotional as a gift from one of my friends.

She prays about which one to get and so far she has batted a thousand every year.

Today’s thoughts included this expression attributed to an author named Jan Johnson and refers to being plagued by “the committee that lives in my head.”

Her committee was made up of four voices and they all were her own personality quirks…and I must say it sounds rather peaceful.

Because the committee that lives in my head includes all the voices of my own quirks PLUS…the real and imagined voices of my parents, my sister, my husband, our children, and other casual and influential people who make up my circles plus assorted media, culture and current trending statistics.

Which is why I sometimes have a melt down when the real live people I am actually currently in the presence of are all talking…because seriously…too. much. noise.

I have heard you cannot have more than one thought going on at a time, but my thoughts are often like popcorn popping and maybe they are just one at a time but they are bouncing all over the sides of my brain and it can be quite exhausting.

Making a decision is particularly difficult because as I am attempting to weigh my options and the possible consequences of any given choice, the voices in my head start joining into the discussion.

And as I mentioned…it may not be what they would really tell me if I could ask them..it’s somehow what I think they are thinking…so weird.

It is at these times that I truly have to discipline myself to bring all the thoughts…all the voices…all the opinions and suppositions…under the control of the only Voice that really matters.

Discipline is not always easy, but each time I do, I get stronger.

Recently I listened to a very helpful audio book on this subject entitled 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do by Amy Morin and it was enlightening. It was also slightly encouraging in that not every single chapter left me going…yeah…that’s a problem for me.

I found great tips for identifying areas where I struggle in my thinking and ways to take steps that line up with Scripture.

Please note…this book is not overly Christian … but is rooted in spiritual truth.

I highly recommend it for reading because as she points out in the conclusion chapter…we all struggle with areas that need growth and maturity throughout our lives…we are works in progress…and as a Christian I know, I will not be perfect until Christ presents me perfected at the end of my journey…but I sure want to do my part in the process <3

Here is the link to her page for it…you can order through a variety of sources <3

https://amymorinlcsw.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/13-Things-Mentally-Strong-People-Dont-Do-by-Amy-Morin.pdf

Big A…little a..what begins with A?

August 19, 2019Discipline, Empty Nest, Refined by the Wordlaura

Big A….little a…what begins with A?

If you knew it was Aunt Annie’s alligator A…a…A then you, like me, have read this Dr Seuss book so many times you have it memorized.

And when I say so many times, I mean that there was a span of close to two decades between the last time I tucked that book on to the shelf and the past few years when I pulled it off again to read to the third generation of our family.

But just like I did when I was reading it to the three R’s…I am still able to close my eyes and recite each page and turn to the next.

It’s a beautiful thing when you are so tired you are the one who needs the nap…and you can catch a few winks whilst reading to the little body relaxing in your arms still fighting to stay awake.

I also can sing almost word for word most of John Denver, Billy Joel and Glen Campbell’s albums as well as a good portion of Hotel California.

I am not saying I am proud of this…just saying I can do it.

Because I listened enough times at one time that the words are stuck tight in the deep recesses of my memory banks and yet…

I struggle to memorize Scripture.

And I acknowledge that is lack of motivation and discipline that is the root of my problem.

The lilting rhyme and rhythm of music added to so many things I have retained helped hold them fast in my gray matter and when I hear the beginning notes to many songs, I am able to pull it up to the front of my mind.

And so I wonder how I can take the beauty of God’s Words and truth and turn them into a rhythm in my own comprehension so that they are planted and rooted deep in my heart.

How do you memorize things?

How do you hide God’s Word in your heart?

I do know that the more I read through even familiar passages, the words and thoughts shape and transform my thinking and my actions.

I say I “follow” Christ…how can I follow if I do not read and study His word?

It is a choice and one I choose daily…step by step…word by word…He is after all the Alpha and the Omega…the beginning and the end …of the Alphabet and all things <3

Seeking peace in the midst of what we cannot understand <3

August 14, 2019Disciplinelaura

Because I fail to read the newspaper and stay current on current events, I am usually completely out of the loop on a lot of news items of the day.

I missed all of the background stuff that has been going on for far too long of a time regarding the recent suicide of Epstein and the saga of filth that is surrounding him and his life.

I shake my head in unbelief that this has been allowed to drag out for such a long time and I have many thoughts regarding this that I choose not to air out as they have been said in much better ways by those with greater knowledge and impact than me.

Even now the constant stream of attempts to provide us with information is nauseating and I realize that media sometimes reports suppositions and accusations with motives beyond sharing truth.

I also believe there are powerful forces that will provide protection for the guilty and there are opportunists who will take this horrendous moment to generate fame and wealth at the expense of women whose lives have been damaged.

I believe there is an underlying mindset of sin that disregards the value of human life and the worth of protecting the innocence of childhood.

I believe the sins perpetrated by anyone who participated in this are as old as the first fall of man when the first people decided that what they saw with their eyes appeared to be good and pleasant for them to partake of and became something that they just had to have no matter what the cost.

And I believe with all my heart that this man did not escape justice by taking his life. I do not believe that by avoiding facing his victims he missed out on facing the One who created the very lives he deemed to be his to destroy.

I believe with all my heart that he is facing judgment and finally understanding why it would have been better to have an enormous hunk of concrete tied around his neck as he was tossed into the ocean than to face the God who demands justice for unrepentant sinners.

And I weep that he and others will never know the broken place of repentance and true godly sorrow and then finally understand that the love of God reached into the deepest, ugliest, most lost places of humanity and offered to pay the price we owed.

I pray for the spiritual and emotional healing of men and women who were betrayed and scarred by others whose greed and lust took what did not belong to them.

I pray for truth to be revealed and for true repentance for those who succumbed to participate in this level of depravity.

And I tremble in fear for the levels of depravity we are all capable of given the right circumstances and conditions.

I pray for justice that can be leveled here on earth and I pray that those who would continue in this act of defiance against the Sovereignty of God over His creation would be caught and disabled from harming more people.

I pray as a follower of Jesus Christ, who carries the Hope of His Resurrection in my heart, that my words and my actions would reflect the great joy of His salvation and the promise that He will return and He will bring justice to all.

I pray to be a voice of healing and hope to those who are oppressed and beaten down by sin, that of their own doing and that perpetrated against them.

I pray to not shrink back in the face of the threat to be silent about this Hope I carry. It is the only way I know that we can be saved from the sins of our humanity.

No laws will change the hard heart of mankind.

And I will give them one heart [a new heart], and put a new spirit within them. I will take from them the heart of stone, and will give them a heart of flesh [that is responsive to My touch],
Ezekiel 11:19 AMP

To meditate on something that really matters <3

July 25, 2019Discipline, No Other Gods 2019laura

This morning I came across a reference to Psalm 119: 15-16 in a devotion about how King David would seek God’s wisdom when making decisions and plans.

As I looked at the passage and then wrote it down in my journal, I began circling words to look up and study a bit more deeply.

The first line says:

I will meditate on your precepts.

I took a pause and looked up the word precepts, because while I think I know what it means….I really don’t know that I have a grasp of it.

For all the word nerds, here is what I found:

To command; any command or order intended as an authoritative rule of action; but applied particularly to commands respecting moral conduct.
KJV commentary

and also this take:

A commandment, an authoritative rule for action, a divine injunction in which man’s obligation is set forth.
BibleStudyTools.com

So basically, a precept is some kind of directly worded commandment that is grounded in authority and calls for action on the part of the one being commanded.

Clearly being told what to do, by the one who has the authority to tell you to do it and the obligation of response on your part to do it.

Putting in human terms.

When your mom tells you to make your bed every morning before you go to school…she has the authority as the mom to command you to do it, the expectation that you can and will do it and you have the obligation to make follow that instruction every day.

When your boss tells you that the work day starts at 8 AM, ends at 5 PM, you get a half hour for lunch and no surfing the internet, he/she has the right to give you those instructions and you have the responsibility and capability of doing them.

My next question would be, where do we start looking for the precepts that David meditated on and the first answer I found was the Ten Commandments.

As Christians we are alarmed when these are removed from public places, and we certainly have our favorites that we pull up to defend what we believe to be right and true….however, in full disclosure…as I look at them this morning, I move no farther past the first four and find myself harking back to David’s Psalm.

I meditate on these:

1. Do not have other gods besides Me
2. Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth
3. Do not bow in worship before them, and do not serve them
4. Do not misuse the name of the LORD your God

There are a myriad of reasons why idol worship is not a good idea.

It robs us of the fellowship and relationship of the only God, the one who made us, formed us…loved us before we knew Him…the only One Worthy of glory and honor and praise and adoration.

But it would seem the main reason we look only to Him, worship only Him, honor His name with our mouths, hearts, minds and bodies is obedience.

OBEDIENCE

He has commanded us to do so.

And if that rubs a rough spot in you, perhaps you have found a place where you have set up some kind of false or functional god.

If something within us still wants to be the one who controls what, how, when we worship…even if we say it’s God we want to worship…we may be bowing down to an idol we formed and fashioned by our own making.

We may be harboring some old place of serving something or someone other than our God.

Mediate on those four “precepts” today and let the Spirit of the living God work in your heart and soul today.

Before we move on to the other six commandments and demand those around us to adhere to them, maybe it would be good to do a heart check on our own level of obedience to the first four <3

This and that and a thought to share for a Monday <3

July 22, 2019Disciplinelaura

I feel summer is just slipping away from us.

The Back to School displays are not helping.

We got a text this morning reminding us in 8 days we will embark on our end of summer get-away and that means when we return it is basically O.V.E.R. as we launch into the start of another season.

So today I am sharing some randoms from the weekend and then a devotional thought gleaned from the worship time at church yesterday…

Random #1

We spent a fair amount of time at the ball park this summer and yet we are trying to make as many of the “makeup games” as we can because it’s time with family we will never get back.

So the other night I delayed returning home and stayed for Emmett’s last game and was treated to watching Joel and a little friend finding a frog.

While I am not big on reptiles (*hours later and I realize frogs are probably amphibians not reptiles…but still…not my thing….)

I did feel sorry for this little guy…

as children squealed and tried to hold him and finally either the Lord took him like He did Enoch or the little guy made his escape when they were running to get more grass for his bucket home.

Peace be with you Freddy Frog…I hope you made it home <3

Random #2

We missed the window for strawberry picking with this crew so I thank God Rachel was on top of blueberry season and we made it out to a farm on Saturday morning.

It was anything but relaxing because…

we do everything loud, proud and crazy…but it’s how we roll and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

I could have held branches for this little hand all day…

watching her grasp a berry and pull it off was like scaling the side of Everest for my heart.

And yes…blueberry picking is not for the faint of heart…

because Joely Bear keeps Johnson & Johnson in business.

We loved the people at http://braffetberryfarm.com and threatened to take this guy with us to keep on retainer for any brother wars that might ensue….

Random #3

Russ and Zach went golfing with some friends while we were picking blueberries and then they met up with us at the farmer’s market

and if there was anything sweeter than watching those four pick blueberries, it was watching my Achille’s Heal mooch the last cinnamon roll away from his Papi.

I have a strong suspicion if my sweet mother-in-law could see Joel she might recognize someone from her own early mom days….just sayin….

Random #5

I have been to the pool twice this week with these yahoos.

I want to remind all the moms, dads, grandparents, aunts, uncles and babysitters out there, including myself.

It is hot and we are all wearing a little thin with late nights and early mornings and lack of structure that summer brings…and we all may have just gotten a wee bit short-tempered and crabby.

So yes…your sunglass will be water splashed and your car will be like an infernal hell when you try to get into it…you will once again run a load of swim suits, towels and ball pants…but this, too, will pass…all too quickly.

Embrace and enjoy it and treasure it <3

and finally….

One of the songs we sang yesterday had this line repeated “love has triumphed over death.”

We have sung this song many times and I wish I could think of the name of the song…but I can’t and I am not going to google right now…but it hit me in a fresh way yesterday morning.

Because I had my eyes closed and so my brain was working out lyrics on its own and I realized that mentally I would use opposites for a line like this.

Love…has triumphed over …. death

Because in a battle it is typically a “this versus that” and the this is usually the opposite of that

And opposites would be ….

Love has triumphed over hate….

or….

Life has triumphed over death.

But that’s not what the author of this particular song wrote.

He or she chose love as the opposite of death.

We think in terms of “good” versus “evil”

In an argument or a conflict we look for the “good guy” and we use our measuring stick for what we consider to be a goodness…and we cheer on that one that represents our idea of goodness to defeat what represents our idea of evil.

But these words…Love has triumphed over death…

these remind me that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.

These words remind me that my sin meant eternal death.

Period.

End of story.

But God’s love through the death of Jesus Christ, gave me Life sentence.

A never-ending story.

His love triumphed over my death.

Over all death.

His love triumphed over what was doomed to destruction and His love mocks the decay that we see all around us.

He lives.

We live because He loves us.

Praise Him <3

Journey Onward

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