I’ve said before that I don’t put much faith in discipline.
It seems that when I use discipline, I always fail. Discipline for me often
means that I stop relying on God’s help and start making all the rules myself. That’s
when everything gets too hard and falls apart. There is a balance of faith and work. I can take
the prescribed next steps while asking
for God’s help. I then receive further direction
as I take the next step. It’s called
obedience, which I often see as an
icky word. If I don’t respond to the
disciplined course of action, then I lose faith in God’s help. It’s not that He
isn’t faithful, but I just don’t experience the drive to continue. I need to pray,
and have a checklist - or at least some baby steps in front of me - and then
pray some more.
Exercise is a good example of this. I have to put on my workout
shoes and clothes, drink my water, and go get started. If I’m not willing to do
that, then I have no one to blame but me if the exercise plan fails. If I don’t
eat healthy food, I will not feel well. Sobriety is like that too. I have to do
my reading and go to my meeting. I have to call people, and talk to others in
the program. If I’m not willing, then I could fail, and failing at sobriety is
not an option. It is easy to backslide into lack of discipline and blame it on
the program, poor meetings, my stress
level, interference from my family, or even God’s "lack of help". There is no substitute for acquiring inner
strength from God. Without His guidance and assurance, I will quit every time.
The word discipline means training that corrects, molds, or perfects
the mental faculties or moral character.
