Thursday - Day 2 of Lent - What discipline might you take up?

Discipline - a word that can mean different things to different people

It for some is undoubtedly is a harsh word, for other it is a respected word, for parents it maybe a necessary word

However for the Christian - when we talk about Spiritual Disciplines - they are practices which help us in our walk with God - A book which I have found very helpful in looking at this topic is The Spiritual Disciplines handbook by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun - The introduction to this book would provide a useful context if you have a bit of time today take a read  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Spiritual-Disciplines-Handbook-Practices-Transforming-ebook/dp/B001INVRV4

She Splits her list of spiritual Disciplines into 7 different parts - some of these are reasonably self explanatory - others you might need to look up.

For me a list like this seems overwhelming and the first thought is I might well give up now ... but take a look again - there might well be something that tickles your fancy! something that you want to give a go to. or maybe something that you are already doing that you didn't realise was a disipline.

Discipline is what drives an athlete to run each day, to excerise in the gym - for us as Christians Calhoun says that it is important to think about what we're desiring to change today and thus what discipline might want to take up.  That makes a lot of sense to me.


Part 1: Worship 

Celebration -  Gratitude - Holy Communion - Rule for Life - Sabbath -  Worship 

Part 2: Open Myself to God

Contemplation - Examen  - Journaling-   Practicing the Presence - Rest -  Retreat -  Self-Care  - Simplicity  - Slowing - Teachability - Unplugging

Part 3: Relinquish the False Self 

Confession and Self-Examination - Detachment - Discernment -   Secrecy - Silence  - Solitude Spiritual Direction-   Submission

Part 4: Share My Life with Others 

Accountability Partner -  Chastity  - Community  - Covenant Group  - Discipling - Hospitality -  Mentoring -  Service - Small Group -   Spiritual Friendship-  Unity -  Witness

Part 5: Hear God's Word 

 Bible Study  - Devotional Reading  - Meditation - Memorization

Part 6: Incarnate the Love of Christ 

Care of the Earth  - Compassion Control of the Tongue -   Humility-   Justice  - Stewardship -   Truth Telling

Part 7: Pray 

Breath Prayer -   Centering Prayer-   Contemplative Prayer - Conversational Prayer - Fasting Fixed-Hour Prayer -  Inner-Healing Prayer  - Intercessory Prayer -   Labyrinth Prayer  - Liturgical Prayer -  Prayer Partners - Praying Scripture -   Prayer of Recollection  -Prayer Walking

“Perhaps somewhere in the subterranean chambers of your life you have heard the call to deeper, fuller living. You have become weary of frothy experiences and shallow teaching. Every now and then you have caught glimpses, hints of something more than you have known. Inwardly you long to launch out into the deep.” —Richard J. Foster

The need to think about these things 

Author John Guest compares “The ‘spontaneous’ person who shrugs off the need for discipline” to “the farmer who went out to gather the eggs”:

“As he walked across the farmyard toward the hen house, he noticed the pump was leaking. So he stopped to fix it. It needed a new washer, so he set off to the barn to get one. But on the way he saw that the hayloft needed straightening, so he went to fetch the pitchfork. Hanging next to the pitchfork was a broom with a broken handle. ‘I must make a note to myself to buy a broom handle the next time I get to town,’ he thought. . . .

By now it is clear that the farmer is not going to get his eggs gathered, nor is he likely to accomplish anything else he sets out to do. He is utterly, gloriously spontaneous, but he is hardly free. He is, if anything, a prisoner to his unbridled spontaneity. The fact of the matter is that discipline is the only way to freedom; it is the necessary context for spontaneity.”

Spirituality without discipline moves in hapless fits and starts; it is sporadic, dependent on fluctuating feelings and external circumstances. It requires little to no effort, but also produces little to no sustained growth, and thus little to no fruit.

This is as true for the “spiritual but not religious” as for those who do consider themselves religious, or at least nominally adopt the trappings of a faith. They may go to church every week, maybe even pray every night, but their spirituality has been almost completely stagnant for years. They go through the motions, but don’t really discipline themselves, and thus only produce the barest of fruit. 

For the soul to strengthen, it has to be trained in a consistent, deliberate way. Just like your physical muscles, it needs something to push against, it needs resistance. If you really want your spirit to be able to soar to adventurous heights and explore the profoundest of depths, if you really want it to possess power — if you really want it to be free — it paradoxically needs some structure. It needs discipline.