The Thing About Discipline...

The thing about discipline is.....sometimes it keeps you from what you really want to be doing.  Things like reading the "just for fun, doesn't make you think too hard" book that you've been wanting to read for ages.  Or playing the cool, brand-new, still wrapped in plastic board game you received as a Christmas gift.  Or even writing a great blog post that actually contains something of substance.  

But, discipline can also pull you along into places you wouldn't otherwise have visited.  Places like the kitchen, late at night, where you laugh with your husband over the day's absurdities.  Or the laundry room for a quick check-in with your eldest, that turns into the best conversation you've had with her in weeks.  Or even the deserted living room of an early morning, where you cry out and praise and seek forgiveness in an extended, long-overdue, heart-to-heart with God.

Discipline might keep me from the things I want, but so far it is giving me something even better.  It's giving me the things I need.