Discipline for the soul

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 5, Issue 21, 28 October 1987, Page 5

Discipline for the soul

Discipline is almost an old-fashioned word these days - and self discipline is definitely out. To write this article I have to discipline myself - deny myself the luxury of curling up on the sofa in front of the fire with a book and a box of chocolates. Some might ask: 'Why shouldn't you curl up in front of the fire with a book and a box of chocolates? What is wrong with it?' So I answer: There's nothing much wrong with it all, except that the chocolates would probably make me fat, the fire would warm me and make me even more lethargic, but the book perhaps could right the two wrongs and

be profitable, informative, and even educational. But my motive for reading would definitely be wrong, for I would simply be taking the line of least resistance and, in fact, really be indulging myself (with profit to no-one), instead of straightening my backbone and creating a little character in myself, by working. Self-indulgence is softening. Discipline is hardening. They are the two sides of the one coin. The more we indulge ourselves, the more flabby and useless we become, while the tempering fire of discipline refines away the dross to make us pure gold. For this reason we discipline our children, some of us were brought up on the Proverb: Spare the rod and

spoil the child, while Proverbs 22:6 says: 'Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.' And is that such a bad thing? Children today are being trained to lie, cheat, steal, bash others up, and Cont'd on p. 14

FACING UP

Cont'dfrom p. 5 generally make pests of themselves until they ultimately kill for kicks. They grow into adults who are soft, flabby, self indulgent creatures who can't see any wrong in themselves - and even if they do, they have their rights, they loudly assert. The Proverbs also state: 'The soul of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing, but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat' in Proverbs 13:4. Very true! The sluggards in our society who are today on the dole very often don't want to work, even refuse to work, but are very demanding about what they desire. They even reach the stage when they cannot work. They have grown flabby in mind and body, and their mind refuses to be disciplined to work - for themselves, or for anyone else. Ecclesiastes 9:10 says: 'Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might,' and again, after labour, 'Thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.' Proverbs 3:24. That's a lovely promise, worth working for! If yov suffer from insomnia, therr perhaps is the answer tc your problem. People who are self-disci-plined might well be those who have given the most, and received the most, in this world. Help make the world a better place by putting the word discipline back intc your vocabulary - and ther use it! F. Eves