why? Why? WHY?

Why does God have to keep hitting me over the head? At the beginning of the week I had a conversation with my wife about my need to be more disciplined. I told her I need to have more focus--in my work, in my prayer life, in my relationship with her and my children. Several events occurred this week that reminded me of the need for more discipline in my life. And then today, I pick up the Church bulletin for this coming weekend. (One of the perks of working for the Church is getting an "advance copy" of the parish bulletin.) Each week the pastor writes a letter to the parishioners. This week he wrote this:

In the letter to the Hebrews we read: "At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later, it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it." We are all tempted to seek the easiest way in everything and to want to make things easier for those we love. But it is important to discern what is the best for them because discipline in the right measure helps us more than indulgence.

More on discipline. Regular readers of my blog know that I have written on discipline before. I have written about it here, here, and here, to name a few. So, why does God keep hitting me over the head with discipline? Well....I think it's because I'm not listening. I keep falling into the same trap over and over again. The Devil really knows how to get me. He just distracts me and gets me to waste time on insignificant things instead of focusing my time and energy on the work of the Lord.

The problem with discipline is that it requires so much....well, discipline. And, as we read in the letter to the Hebrews, "all discipline seems a cause not for joy, but for pain." Discipline is hard, and initially there seems to be no fruit from a life of discipline. A life of laziness and indulgence provides an instant satisfaction. It requires no effort, no work. But it ends in a life of misery. I know. That's why my wife and I were talking about discipline at the beginning of the week. She was asking me why I was so miserable, why I have lost my passion. After really looking at it and my life, I discovered that it was because I had lost my discipline. Discipline may not bring an instant joy, but one who is disciplined will, with time, enjoy "the peaceful fruit of righteousness."