One of the main objectives I want to accomplish with this website it giving people the tools to improve their lives. Ultimately though, it is up to each person to do this. This begs the question: who wouldn’t want a better life? We all want less stress, more time with family and friends, less fatigue and lethargy, more peace. I think it’s safe to say that is an accurate statement. Where we run into trouble is the barriers that prevent that from happening. While our desire for those things may be present, the discipline to take action at moving towards them may be lacking. Yes, motivation is part of it. Yet, motivation can wax and wane because it is dependent on emotion. We may not “feel” like doing something or there is sadness, anger, laziness or some other emotion blocking our path. Discipline, however, is not circumstantial. It sets up a non-negotiable arrangement with ourselves, simply stating “Regardless of how I feel, I’m doing this.” It takes the emotion out of the equation and it sets us up for success by identifying our priorities.
If you know what is important to you, it becomes easier to stay focused and therefore achieve our goals. We all know procrastinators and we all can be to some degree. So we have subjective evidence of what being unfocused and unmotivated feels like. We become distracted by the short term and lose sight of the long game. Which is where the discipline comes in. This helps us stay focused on the goal because you decide what is important. You prioritize the long over the short. This takes sacrifice. I believe that is where most of us fall short. We aren’t willing to sacrifice. Its too painful to let go of what we likely or do have for what we could have. Too uncomfortable to loosen our grip on the known and familiar to reach out for the unknown. Much of that requires faith and belief in God’s plan instead of our own. God is constantly calling us to be better. To grow in our relationship with Him, ourselves, and others. We weren’t born the final product of God’s design; He is molding us and shaping us. He is the potter and we are the clay.
When have you achieved something and not been happy or proud of your accomplishment? Did that take effort? Did you have to do something uncomfortable? Did you have to stretch and push? What did you sacrifice? Much of the time, it was some part of ourselves. Something that we were used to doing or believing that while business as usual, it was hindering us. It blocked us from that achievement. Yet, you were able to prioritize the goal, setting aside your own inadequate behavior or thought process, and become a better version of yourself and the result was attainment of something you desired. The rub of our existence is that this is never completed. We are always presented with challenges to overcome. We all have our issues and shortcomings, our struggles. Health, work, personal relationships, self-identity. So while battles are won or lost, the war rages on. Luckily we have God on our side.
So that is the priority. Our supreme direction: God’s relationship with us. In a previous post, I dove into this a little. Without a spiritual foundation, everything else falls apart. We can fall prey to the lies of cynicism and nihilism. We adopt a why bother attitude, which separates us from God’s love. Much like the man who built his house on sand, we become demolished by life’s storms. When we build on rock, we are able to stand firm in times of trouble. Jesus told us we will have trouble. There will be trials but He has overcome this. (Jn 16:33) The key is we have to make Him the priority. He has already won, we just have to accept that He is on our side and we aren’t fighting alone. We welcome Him into our lives and choose Him over all else.
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