A Child.

I have an extremely wild little 8-year-old cousin. She will not listen and do as she is told, and it is pretty much her way or the highway. And if she doesn’t get her way, it usually results in crying, smart-aleck remarks, and to my family just frustration. Bottom line, we love her tons.

One day as she was playing outside, it hit me… pretty much between the eyes. I was thinking, how can we get this little girl to behave better? Here’s what the problem is… she has no structure to her life (when she’s not in school), and she has no discipline. And, without a doubt, God spoke to me and said, this little girl and you are no different.

That was harsh.

But if it’s from the mouth of God, is it really harsh?

That’s exactly what I need. I need, in essence, a boot camp for Christian living and discipline. For that officer to be in my face, breaking me down and building me up into the creation I am meant to be. I still cling onto Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

I don’t want it to sound like I’m doing nothing. To me, it does feel that way, because I’m not disciplined enough to read my Bible daily, and devote time to reading. To carefully word this, I definitely AM going to start soon. Starting with a book my one-on-one partner wants me to read, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald S. Whitney. I’ve already read some of it… and let me tell you. For those of us who feel like we have no purpose, the NASB translation makes it CLEAR.
1 Timothy 4:7. Discipline yourselves for the purpose of Godliness.

If that isn’t clear enough… there is little hope.

So I’ll end this here. Short, sweet, to the point. Not only do I hope to get some structure and discipline in my life, but I hope to help my cousin as well. I also would like to share the Gospel with her sometime. =)

Peace.