This morning I was doing some cleaning up around the back yard. This time of year we get a lot of different types of fruits that drop. If you don't sweep every day, it becomes a huge job. As I was finishing up this part, I decided to start to tackle the back yard. The grass has been growing pretty long. We are in the middle of our rainy season so the grass get pretty long. It starts to look like a jungle. So I thought what I will do, is take 15 minutes a day to work on it. It is such a big job to do all in one day and with all the little events and things happening right now to spend that much time on it would difficult. To shed some light on this aspect of my life, we bought a lawn mower with the spinning blades like we used to have when I was growing up. When we bought it, it was on sale. Any type of gas powered lawn mowers are pretty spendy down here. I believe it is because if you are going to buy a gas powered lawn mower you have to have a large amount of grass or you will be using it as a business to cut other people's grass. An average house here does not have grass. If you do have grass it is a very small amount. It is like having a house plant that you maintain. So back to my lawn mower. I started mowing and immediately started sweating. Not hard to do right now. My 15 minutes where up and I did about a 10X10 foot section. It was only a small area of our back yard. With the constant rain and the amount of grass that was cut you have to rake it up. While I was raking and just thinking to myself, about coming home from the states, and having a pair of running shoes that I picked up from a used store. I was thinking why do I think having a new pair of running shoes will help motivate me to exercise? Why do I think that having these shoes help make it easier to start running? I believe the answer to that is like so many things in life is that it all comes down to the action and taking those first steps of choosing to do something. I am reminded of the passage of scripture in Hebrews 12:11 that says: Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (NKJV)
This verse is clear that discipline is not easy but painful. Yet in our minds we believe that things will help make it easier. I am fully convinced that no matter what we have that we think it will make things easier for us, we are decieved. We need to see things simply. Yes and no. This principle can be applied to so many areas of our lives. It is just like having various Christian books. We can a have a mountain of books about the bible and theology yet, there is nothing that can replace our time in reading and studying the word for ourselves. How many times do I say I don't have time to sit down and read the bible today, I have too many other things to do? We need to realize the discipline of reading the word will produce in us growth even if it is painful at this time. It comes down to making that choice to spend time in reading and studying the bible and not thinking that a book will heMy hope is that I encouraged you to take the time in soaking in the Word this week. I know I need more discipline.
This verse is clear that discipline is not easy but painful. Yet in our minds we believe that things will help make it easier. I am fully convinced that no matter what we have that we think it will make things easier for us, we are decieved. We need to see things simply. Yes and no. This principle can be applied to so many areas of our lives. It is just like having various Christian books. We can a have a mountain of books about the bible and theology yet, there is nothing that can replace our time in reading and studying the word for ourselves. How many times do I say I don't have time to sit down and read the bible today, I have too many other things to do? We need to realize the discipline of reading the word will produce in us growth even if it is painful at this time. It comes down to making that choice to spend time in reading and studying the bible and not thinking that a book will heMy hope is that I encouraged you to take the time in soaking in the Word this week. I know I need more discipline.
