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.
Hebrews 12:12
Raise your hand if you have considered a work out or a race since the Olympics. Just watching the athletes compete is inspiring to me. That kind of discipline takes hours and hours of practice. I imagine training to that intensity requires nearly 100% of their time, and the goal of the ultimate competition lingers in their minds even between their work sessions. The extra 10% that it takes to compete at that level comes from their hearts. Even those of us who enjoy sports at a recreational level know there is a degree of pain that comes when we haven't stretched, or when we step the wrong way and slip, or in this heat, when we haven't hydrated. But what joy is in the moment of a nicely placed shot, or a smooth strong finish in a run, or feeling the wind at your back on the bike!
In our spiritual life we can practice this kind of discipline too. Our Olympics? Heaven of course! W can train by reminding oursevles to keep Jesus close to us throughout the day and night. And we know we may experience degrees of "pain" when we don't know what to do next, or when we feel afraid of anxious about what is to come. And there are the same degrees of consolation when we experience a moment, a 'God-incidence, that we are certain the intervention of the Holy Spirit has taken place, like that time that just the right song plays with the words we needed to hear.
I hope we can sing along to a praise song today and be thankful for this day in all of its ways, and consider the discipline that it takes for us to live out our calling as children of a Loving God.
