Discipline

While I feel that I've got discipline down to a science where my children are involved (hold on while I laugh at myself on that one) where I really seem to be falling short lately is in my SELF discipline. So I've committed to four different areas of self discipline and am hoping that I can stick to these. Time will tell.

First: I will start getting up in the mornings when Michael gets up to get ready for work.
My girls are late sleepers. Claire has started getting up earlier recently, but that still equates to about 8:00. Sarah is one I usually have to go wake up around 9:00. So it is really easy for me to be lazy in the mornings and sleep in until Claire wakes me. While that makes for a very leisurely and stress-free morning, it also makes for a very unproductive day. So I've committed to waking at 6:00 every morning so I will have 2-3 hours of child free time to accomplish some of the other goals on my way to a more disciplined me.

Second: I will make time to be in the Word every morning before I do ANYTHING else.
This was a tough one at first because I love to wake slowly. Even if I manage to crawl out of bed at 6:00, I would prefer to not have to think for at least an hour before starting my day. This means getting my breakfast, hot cup of tea and zoning out in front of the TV. But I've truly felt convicted to give the Lord the first of my day so I have committed to forgo the TV and sit with my Bible instead. I've been reading through Hebrews a chapter a day and am loving that book. It's been too long since I've read it. Chapter 9 in particular is such a great breakdown of the gospel. Love it!

Third: Eating better foods.
I am convinced that I have become addicted to eating out. This is not something I am proud of in any way. It is really sad to me that I can hardly resist the temptation to grab food out on most any occasion. Even when there is perfectly good food at home. So I have committed to stay away from any restaurant food until March 3rd. The reason for March 3rd? We are heading to Anchorage for a weekend trip and I won't really be able to avoid eating out. But if I make it that far, I will have made it 3 full weeks from the day I first committed to this. And once we get back home, I am planning to skip restaurant food until we leave for our trip to Houston in April.

Fourth and Finally:  Exercise
This one is the one I feel most likely to fail. I HATE to exercise. I think it is because I am so out of shape. I am guessing that if I can manage to exercise consistently for the next four weeks, I will feel so much better and might actually start to want to exercise. I have made every excuse in the book as to why it is tough to exercise in Alaska. From "I don't have a gym membership here" to "It's -18 degrees outside and I can't go out in that with the girls". But the truth is,even in Houston I had a great gym membership that included free childcare and I still didn't go work out. So I cannot justify hiding behind my circumstances any longer. I have pulled out my Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred DVD. It is a good workout and only takes 20 minutes of my day. I am committed to doing this for the entire 30 days and then I will feel out what will come next. Baby steps here, folks. Baby steps.

I started on commitment items 1-3 last week and have stayed consistent in them. Item 4 started today. I did complete my daily exercise and am glad I did it.

Make no mistake, I am a weakling when it comes to these areas of discipline. I really don't even like putting it all out there for the world to see but it's the ugly truth of who I am and I am working to improve it. I can't even take credit for the motivation to get this ball rolling. This was a true conviction from the Lord. I had a quiet time a few weeks back and no matter what I read in the Word, one word kept popping into my head. That word was "discipline". So I prayed about it and asked the Lord to show me areas where I lacked discipline in my life. And boy did He show me!! So now I am praying for strength to see these items through and whip myself back into shape both mentally and physically! Keep watching for an update in March. I promise to give a full, honest report.