double your productivity

I was disturbed to look at the National Geographic pictures (January 2012 publication) of people in Cambodia who have lost limbs because of land mines, but one fact caught my attention even more than the sad pictures of maimed civilians. 

“There’s a clear link between land mine contamination and poverty.” 

One village chief said, “We did not have enough food to eat.  We could not grow rice on our own land because the soldiers had laid the mines.”   

Cambodia has been clearing its land of mines for over 10 years, and in that time personal income in the country has doubled. 

We all feel the obvious, immediate effects of lacking self discipline –obesity, broken relationships, credit card bills, filthy house…Like the missing limb of a child who has stepped in the wrong place. 

But have you ever considered that the mines of undiscipline in the fields of your life not only pose a danger to you but, by their very presence, are keeping you in poverty?  I urge you to look at all the land that could be planted, could be producing, could be bringing a richness to your life and to the lives of others. 

Here’s my paraphrase of 2 Peter 2:5,6,8.  “Once you have faith in Christ, take a metal detector to the field of your life.  Get down on your hands and knees and disarm, one at a time, each landmine of undiscipline.  If you do this meticulously, it will keep you from having to stare at your life, wondering why you own so much fertile land but feel so poor.

Get self control. Now.

Son, get out of the car.

This is what I would say to the boy every morning when I would drop him off for school.  He loved school, but he just could not hurry.  My little tortuga I would often call him affectionately –Spanish for “turtle”.  So relaxed and laid-back I know he’ll never need to buy a bottle of Tums for an anxious stomach.

Hurry, we’re late!

His lips say okay, but his body rhythm doesn’t change.  Bend over.  Tie the shoe.  Grab the other shoe.  Slowly tie it.  No hurry in him.

I love who he is, this boy who often helps me slow down and breathe, but sometimes I wish I could light a fire underneath him big enough to increase his speed.

Peter says the same thing to the little tortugas in the church.  “Make every effort…to add self control.” (2 Peter 1:5)

“To make every effort” is from the Greek word that means “to speed, to hasten”.

get a move on

pick up the pace

hop to it

chop chop

How quickly are you moving to gain self control?  Is your effort so slow that someone would need time-lapse photography to document it?  I imagine the Spirit of God tapping his foot, waiting for us to catch the urgency of hurry.

why self control is connected to your world view

The first day of the meeting he wore a dress shirt.  The second day he wore the same shirt.  And he wore it the next day and the next day.

When I get dressed in the morning I think of that young man in Africa who led music at our morning Bible study, in his one and only dress shirt.  I stand in front of my closet for several minutes, fingering shirt after shirt.  I’ve bought space-saving hangers because I have more clothes than closet.  What to wear. 

I once listened to a radio program about a school in Mexico that feeds the students at school because they live in poverty.  And how sad it makes them to have to wean the children down to one meal a day before the summer break, so the change isn't such a shock.

Paul says, “I have learned to be content…”  (Philippians 4:10) 

Learning about the rest of the world has shown me my own wealth.  With that realization comes a school teacher -embarrassment.  How embarassing that my struggle is trying not to snack between meals when so many people have no "between".  How embarrassing to pout in front of my closet because my clothes are so “last year” when others only own the "last year".

I highly recommend visiting a third-world country or reading about one.  Learning to be content requires a teacher, and embarrassment is a good one.

how to control incoming paperwork armed with only 10 pocket folders

Mom, where’s my release slip for the field trip? 

“It’s on the scary counter!” I holler back.

THE SCARY COUNTER is a geographical location in my kitchen where the slightest breeze could send a tower of papers toppling.  Receipts.  Bills.  A pickle jar I need to take to a friend for her craft project.  Half-finished thank-you notes for Christmas gifts (yes, it’s February).  Jayme’s immunization papers for college.  A CD with pictures on it.  Recipes I need to type and put in my cookbook binder. 

I always joke that there’s probably something in that stack of mess that I’m going to go to prison for if I don’t take care of it soon.

A proverb sings at me.  “A place for everything –and everything in its place.”

Here’s a tip that has helped me immensely.  I put a magazine rack on “the scary counter” in my kitchen and have filled it with pocket folders labeled like this:

·        To file (when this gets full I take it downstairs and file it all.)

·        Tax stuff (for receipts, quarterly payment envelopes, etc.) 

·        Hang onto it (for things like directions to a baby shower, tickets to an event –stuff you’ll need soon but don’t need sitting on the counter) 

·        Christmas (lists, ideas, etc.) 

·        To do –URGENT. 

·        To do –not so urgent (for tasks on which you can procrastinate without going to jail)

·        Recipes

·        Scrapbook

·        Project (one for every project you have going –for example, right now I have one labeled “graduation” as we prepare for my daughter’s high school graduation in May)

·        $ (budget, bills, envelopes, stamps, etc. –I am able to grab this and have everything I need to sit down and pay bills)

Divide your paper mountain into these folders, and then you can declare, as one who has sailed the wide ocean, “Land!  I see Land!”

While you organize, keep in mind 1 Peter 1:6,8.  If the quality of self control is yours and is increasing, it will “keep you from being useless or unfruitful”.  If you were to get your scary counter under control, how do you think that might affect your productivity in everything else?

self control: lonely

The first six months of my daughter’s life were the loneliest months I have ever experienced.  I was a stay-at-home mom, and Matt was finishing his master’s degree in psychology.  He went to class and did his practicum all day long, came home and studied all evening long, and then worked 40 hours on the weekend at a residential treatment facility.  (You heard me correctly -40 hours from Friday to Sunday night.)  It was me and this new little baby for five hours, eight hours, 12 hours –seven days a week. 

Sometimes I would load her up and head to the grocery store, not because I needed food, but hopefully to see another adult face.  I was so desperately lonely that the exchange with the checkout clerk was like food to a starving person.

My kids are all grown up now, and I’m free to move about and see people all day.  I still find myself lonely and searching, though.  I feel it around lunch time when I sit down to eat by myself.  I reach for the remote control.

I feel it on the weekend when everybody’s off doing their thing.  I reach for chocolate.

The strange thing is, sometimes I feel it when everybody’s at home.  People all over the house, but I still feel a searching.  Like a cell phone looking for a signal.  My soul reaches out, needing something but it’s not sure what. 

David says, “Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely…”  (Psalm 25:16)  It’s really David who has turned, though.  His soul could reach for so many things, but he reaches for the Lord instead.

The last few years I’ve been practicing.  Feel the emptiness –reach for the Lord not for M&Ms.  Feel the emptiness –reach for the Lord not for a chick flick.  Feel the emptiness –reach for the Lord not for a trip to the mall.  I have found the secret of Christian joy –when my lonely soul reaches out in prayer, I find there is someone there.  A God who is available in every moment and who sees and listens and responds. 

Recommended reading:  Made to Crave (satisfying your deepest desire with God, not food), by Lysa TerKeurst

self control: failure -again

Ask me about healthy eating or working out.  Ask me about budgeting or financial goals or spiritual disciplines or relationship health.  But PLEASE don’t ask me about promptness. 

There it is, that one huge beast of a bad habit that I can’t seem to control.  I was late to my dentist appointment today -again.  There stood the hygienist waiting for me.  It was only five minutes, but it was five minutes that belonged to her day, to her schedule.  It pains me to write this down and let you see it all out loud on paper.  Late to meetings.  Late to lunch dates.  Late for my own funeral probably. 

I only have courage to write this because I know you have one.  One thing that, to save your life you just cannot seem to manage.  Try.  Fail.  Determine not to fail again.  Try.  Fail. 

Why is it that we can see the problem and even know how easy it would be to fix, but we just can’t seem to do it?  Really, how hard would it be for me to leave the house 10 minutes earlier than normal to get somewhere?  How hard to leave 15 minutes sooner and **GASP** be early to something.  Not rocket science.  Yet I find myself constantly apologizing and being ashamed over the same tardiness.

Jesus says the answer, but I don’t like it.  You’re not gonna like it.  “If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.  It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.”  (Matthew 5:30). 

Of course, I’m quite confident that tardiness is not going to land me in hell, but Jesus’ point still fits.  If something keeps pulling me down, I need to do something drastic to put a halt to it.  Something really drastic –like confessing my weakness in front of all of you.

How ashamed and totally disgusted with ourselves do we have to get before we’ll finally take a drastic measure to make a change? 

Uh.  I’m there today.  God help me, I’m starting a new boot camp (see my previous blog on boot camps from January 1).  No tardiness in February.  (She said with her game face on.)  Would somebody please hold me accountable to this? 

What’s that “one thing” for you?

self control: inching forward

Pencil marks on the wall mark my son’s growth.  For two years in a row, every three months I gave away all of his pants and bought him new ones.  He went from hugging me and laying his head against my shoulder to hugging me and pulling my head against his chest.  I couldn’t see it happen as I watched him every day, but jeans don’t lie.  One inch at a time he became the one I call to reach for a dish from the high cupboard. 

Peter says we are to add self control to our faith, in “increasing measure” (2 Peter 1:5,6,8)

Pencil marks on the wall.

There is always a starting point of measurement. 

·        The weight on the scale.

·        The balance in the checkbook.

·        The temperature of relationships.

·        The spiritual habits.

·        The white glove across furniture.

·        The investment in hobbies.

·        The volunteer hours.

·        The work ethic.

I want to hug Peter and thank him for not giving a number on the ruler.  He didn’t say, “Add self control by the foot or by the yard or by the mile.” 

Just add it.

One mark at a time.  Millimeters count.

I open the door to my sons room, and behind his wall are the markings.  And I love them.  Love seeing him become a man. 

Open a door in your home, step behind it with a pencil, and mark where you are now.  Then, add a measure of self control, some tiny increments and some huge-gotta-buy-new-jeans-cause-mine-are-high-waters-now increments.

self control: a little bit goes a long way

I lost my pizza dough.

I made a dough recipe that could be refrigerated overnight and then made into pizza the following day, but when I went to make dinner the dough wasn’t in the fridge.  I felt ridiculous looking everywhere for it.  I know where to look for car keys or my purse or my glasses –but misplaced dough?

I finally found it in the cupboard.  I was so efficient that I had put the bowl away the night before - right where it belonged.

It’s rather shocking how large a yeast dough can become when left to rise for 24 hours.

Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.” (Matthew 13:33) 

When my grandma would read us the Bible at the breakfast table, she would often take dramatic license just to see if we were really paying attention.  I imagine her rendition of Jesus’ parable would sound like this:  “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a very blonde woman mixed into a large amount of flour and then accidentally put in the cupboard overnight, and the pizza dough grew, and grew, and grew until the lid popped off the bowl!”

Our seemingly small lives are meant to have an effect on a large amount of the world around us.  That’s our motivation for gaining self control –because an increasing measure of control allows us to be a living, effective, productive yeast, and the influence of our lives rises to an astonishing, left-in-the-cupboard-overnight big.



MY FAVORITE PIZZA:
on homemade pizza dough NOT left to rise overnight:

1 tbsp. olive oil
a thin layer of freshly grated parmesan
steamed broccoli -cut up real small
cooked chicken -cut up
pepper
dollops of ricotta cheese
thinly sliced tomato
heaping mounds of mozzarella

after pizza is cooked -thin sliced, fresh basil

self control: the size of a deck of cards

The first time I thought about it was when my 70-something grandma went on an adventure to China.  I loved all her stories when she got back -places she’d been and especially her experience of walking the great wall.  But one comment landed in my mind and stayed there like a bur.

She said there aren’t fat people in China.  They eat very small portions and no sugar. 

Very small portions.  It was the first time I began to think about how much I eat and the first time I wondered how much I need to eat.

The lack of self control in every area of life is almost always a problem of excess.

·        Too much eating.

·        Too much anger.

·        Too much spending.

·        Too much TV.

·        Too long of breaks at work.

·        Too much focus on self.

Jesus said, “Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth.”  (Matthew 6:19)  Too much stuff.  What do we really need? 

I just talked to a friend whose family of four is temporarily living in a 500-square-foot apartment.  She said when you only have that much space, you find out how much is really necessary to live on.

Nutritionists tell us a proper serving size of food is the size of a deck of cards.  I look at my plate when I fill it now. 

For one year I only owned two pair of pants, partly because funds were tight for clothing but also because I decided to see if I could live with a minimal amount of clothing.  For one entire year I took turns wearing those pants.  One pair on Monday.  The other pair on Tuesday.  No one noticed.  I was clothed.  It was enough.

In every area of life let's ask, “Lord, what portion size?”  How many words are enough?  How much food is enough?  How much recreation is enough?  How much stuff is enough?

self control: rub shoulders

Today is my 43^rd birthday.  Woohoo!  I love the attention and presents and cake.  Very childish I know.  Maybe in my 50s I’ll be more mature about it.  But probably not.

I reflect deeply on my birthdays about who I am and who I have yet to be.  I always imagine writing notes to a few dozen people who have contributed richly to who I have become, although I'm too lazy to actually do it.

As I write about self control, I think of my friend who started using cash a few years ago.  I watched her pull out her cash envelopes for a year and finally became so intrigued that I asked her to help me use that system.  If it weren’t for her, Matt and I wouldn’t have the control over our money that we have now.

I think of the friend who, in frustration, said, “You don’t listen!!”  And the painful truth of those words got me started trying to listen better when people are talking to me.  (You may think I still stink at this, but I’ve come a long way!)

I think of several people in my life who are very kind and gracious.  When I make a snap judgment about a person or a situation, they gently offer a deeper perspective.  Because of them I’ve grown a bit (maybe a very little bit) in controlling criticism and offering grace instead.

Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”

The self control of others is slowly rubbing off on me, and I hope the measure of self control I’ve gained will rub off on you.  We desperately need to learn from each other.

So to all of you whom God has used to sharpen my self control, thank you so much.  I can’t wait to rub shoulders with you in my 43^rd year of life.   

self control: Going somewhere?

An early lesson I teach a new piano student is about movement.  Anyone can plunk out notes on a piano.  Mary had a Little Lamb.  Chopsticks.  But a song should carry the listener to a new place.  Music swells and quiets and drives forward.  Resulting in a tear, a tapping toe, a breath held in anticipation, a racing pulse, a comforted soul.  A listener changed in the space of a few moments.

Acts 17:28 says, “In him we live and move and have our being.”  In relationship with God our lives were meant to drive forward, to go somewhere, to have an effect on everyone with whom we come in contact.

Click your iPod to the song that most stirs your soul.  Listen to the movement forward.  Crescendo.  Decrescendo.  The work of an artist who knows how to control his instrument.  And because he has spent hours and hours and years and years fine-tuning his skill… we are given a tune that transforms who we are and where we are going.

The kick of a bass drum that can be felt through the floor.

The brush of a bow across the strings of a cello.

The call of a trumpet.

We work to control the instrument of our lives… to create such a forward motion that everyone who listens is drawn toward God by our movement.

self control: lollapalooza

It’s just so stinkin’ fun to say!  (I know you’re saying it out loud right this very second.) 

It means “a person or a thing that is particularly impressive or attractive”. 

The woman found in Proverbs 31 is a lollapalooza.  She gets up early, keeps a light on all night, makes clothes from scratch, runs a lucrative business, is totally prepared for the future, does some charity work in her “spare time”, makes her husband look good, and refuses to stop working to eat chocolate in front a chic flick while the kids are in school.  She’s particularly impressive.

And she’s our example.

Does God intend every woman to be a lollapalooza?

Every woman a Proverbs 31 lady?

The proverbs of Solomon are “for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life.” (Proverbs 1:3)  And this verse is followed by 31 chapters of little proverbs, one stacked on top of the other, one element of self control at a time. 

Controlling the tongue. 

Stocking the pantry for winter. 

Honest scales. 

Kind words.

The slow-but-steady addition of self control into our lives.  Finished with the beautiful picture of a woman who can do more than is humanly possible, with faith in God and some effort.  A lollapalooza life.

self control: pink slip

In 20 years of marriage my husband has refined a way to stop my tongue from wagging.  When I’m talking foolishly he quietly reaches under the table and gently pushes one finger on my leg.  It works.  I shut up.

But inside my knee-jerk response is, “Hey!  Who are you to tell me what I can and can’t say?”  I’ll be honest - I feel defensive at first.  But after a minute I step back in my mind and consider what I was saying to people, the thoughtless words coming out of my mouth.  I’m thankful he loves me enough to help me stop the flow of stupidness.

In Psalm 12 David is exasperated by the people around him who do nothing but brag about themselves and lie to the people close to them.  In verse 4, these people say, “We own our lips –who is our master?”

Who owns the pink slip on my lips?  Does anyone have the right to press a “be quiet” finger onto my skin?  Can’t I say what I want?

In Psalm 12:6 David says, “The words of the Lord are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times.”

God’s lips.  Flawless… refined.

We need to sign over the papers.  Words under new ownership, controlled by the Flawless One who can inject every word we say with truth and life and goodness. 

Lips that never need to apologize.  Lips that never lie.  Lips that always have the right word to say to just the right person in just the right moment.  Lips that offer a Band-Aid instead of a knife wound.  Lips people want to kiss instead of slap.  Lips that add a solid brick instead of a wrecking crane to the construction of who someone is.  

Let us say together, “We do not own our lips –God is our master.”

self control: friendships

It was a seemingly impossible friendship that led to years of conflict.  She wanted more of my space, and I wanted more of my space.  We would enjoy each other’s company and then have a skirmish, each wishing to erase the other from her life. 

In Little Women Amy drops her school slate, and the melting snow washes away the chalk math sums.  I think sometimes we wish we could make a difficult relationship go away that easily.

Proverbs 3:3 says, “Let love and faithfulness never leave you… write them on the tablet of your heart.”

At God’s stern prompting I pull out the tablet.

“Get a Sharpie” he says.

“But Lord, permanent ink?”

“Yes, permanent.  Write her name.”

So I mechanically write her name on the tablet of my heart, holding on tight to love and faithfulness out of sheer obedience to God.  But as I write, something happens in my heart.  I begin to see the beauty of who she is.  The bitterness and frustration fall away, and in their place I begin to feel love, and I begin to want faithfulness.  She is a treasure. 

I look down at the tablet, and I see that the name I wrote as a dutiful scribble God has turned into a sweeping calligraphy.

So I keep learning how to be her friend and keep moving toward her and keep loving.  And as she has worked to do the same with me, God is bringing a slow but steady healing to our friendship.

When keeping someone close gets challenging, we must control the urge to erase the person from the heart.  Love and faithfulness stay.

self control: motivation (part II)

School debt.  Car debt.  Credit card debt.  I thought we would never be free.  For years we limped along, barely making it from month to month.  I found myself begging God, almost every day for years, to please help us dig out.

And then came a radio broadcast and a book I found on finances.  We developed a budget, and we slowly started trying to live by it.  An emergency savings account.  Controlling where we were spending.  Setting financial goals.  Going cash.  It took years, but now we’re free.

Freedom to give.  Instead of scraping by, we actually find ourselves with a few extra dollars now and then.  Freedom to help a friend in need.  Freedom to support a missionary.  Freedom to buy a biosand water filter for someone in a third world company.  Freedom to foot the bill at a restaurant.    

Peter says, “Make every effort to add to your faith…self control” which can “keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  (2 Peter 1:5,6,8)

Effective.

Productive.

Self control gives us the freedom to do more than is humanly possible.

As I see the effectiveness and productivity gained by controlling just one element of our lives, my imagination goes crazy.  What could we accomplish if we were to gain self control in every area of our lives? 

self control: a helpful tool

When my daughter was young I used to read to her before bed, and we worked our way through the entire Little House on the Prairie series. Besides noting The Long Winter was a depressing book choice for a resident of Montana, I also found the Little House books were filled with proverbs. Parents used to regularly feed wisdom to their children in short expressions of truth. When did we stop doing that? 

I’m bringing back the proverb! My family rolls their eyes at me when I throw pithy sayings at them, however, so I mostly proverb myself. These are my favorites:

 

“Slow and steady wins the race”  –when my Monday to-do list takes up more than one page.

“Well begun is half done”  –when my house is such a mess I’m thinking of calling FEMA.

“Haste makes waste”  –when I’m tempted to rush through typing medical reports to the point that running spell checking takes longer than it did to type the reports in the first place. 

“When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.”  (Proverbs 10:19)  –when I need to shut up. 

The Proverbs of Solomon are “for the acquiring of a disciplined and prudent life” (Proverbs 1:3).  A proverb is like a portable micro self lecture to do the right thing, and it fits on a sticky note.  Join me in starting a trend of living by wise, meaningful sayings.

self control: expertise

Tape, mud, texture, and paint.  How hard could it be?  My mother-in-law was coming to live with us, so we decided to enclose part of our basement to make a bedroom for her.  Time was short, so I tackled the sheetrock finishing by myself.  We installed a dim switch for the lights in that room.  If we keep the lights really, really low, to quote my friend, the mud and tape job “looks pretty good to a man riding by on a horse.”

If I take on home improvement, you will always be able to tell I did it myself.  I sometimes imagine if we were to sell this home that people would walk through with the realtor shaking their heads -making comments about how the pathetic owners should have hired out their improvement projects.  I once had a friend come over to see how I was doing on a project.  He looked at me with compassionate eyes, as if I were a handicapped child, and said, “Oh, you should have asked me to help you.” 

Peter tells us God’s “divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness, through our knowledge of him who called us…”  (2 Peter 1:3).  Gaining self-control is one project we shouldn’t try to do by ourselves.  Bring in the Expert. 

Asking God for help with self-control means the difference between “pretty good” and a professional finish.

self control: bleeding

I’ve been horrible about doing dishes for a few decades. Around 4:00 every afternoon I walk into the kitchen and do a 360 turn, to see dishes piled high. No sign of clean counter showing. It’s a daily exercise in failure and discouragement. I need to make dinner, but who wants to make dinner in a mess? Hamburgers it is. (We fully support the salary of one Wendy’s employee.) And as I pull through the drive-through at Wendy’s, I fork out $20.00 for my family to eat a meal, 1/5 of my weekly grocery budget. Then we get home, and I pull out the fries. It should be a salad or other wholesome vegetable. Instead we eat grease.

Lack of self-control in housekeeping...leads to lack of self-control in cooking…leads to lack of self-control in spending…leads to lack of self-control in healthy eating... A little problem is like a nick in the carotid artery. Life bleeds out.

I started doing some strength training a few years ago –what seemed like an immense sacrifice of time in my day. But after a while my energy level began to change. My productivity in the day increased four times over the minutes I was spending lifting a few weights. Because I was working out, I started to care more about what I was eating. (Who wants to ruin a good workout with bad calories?) I felt better about myself, which made me feel I had more to offer to other people. I was able to handle more tasks at home and at church. So much benefit from a 15-minute workout. Self-control cauterizes.

Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10b) Arteries fully patent. Blood flowing. Oxygen moving quickly and easily to every organ, to every extremity. If we want a full life, we must begin by using self-control to staunch the flow of thoughts and habits that lead to a useless life.

self control: boot camp

I’m relieved it’s Peter who speaks the most pointedly about self control.  Peter who flails in the lake after impulsively walking to Jesus on the water.  Peter who grabs a sword and cuts off the ear of the high priest.  Peter who refuses to let Jesus wash his feet and then in the next moment insists Jesus wash his whole body.  Peter who denies being a follower of Jesus –three times in a row.  Not the poster child for self control.  Yet he becomes the rock Jesus uses to build the church on.  Speak to me, Peter.

“Make every effort to add to your faith…self control”  (2 Peter 1:5, 6).  Words from someone who had more effort to make than most.

Matt introduced boot camp to our family several years ago when he hit his 30s and all of a sudden had waist hanging over his belt.  Determined to get in shape, he mandated on himself a month-long boot camp in which he was going to work out every day, except Sunday, without fail.  He did it, and he lost a bunch of weight and looked hot!  (Can a pastor’s wife say that?) 

Since then I’ve enrolled myself in two personal boot camps.  One was to floss.  Tired of hanging my head in shame in front of the dental hygienist every six months, I determined never again to say to her, “No, I haven’t been flossing.”  One month later I was a flosser forever.  The next boot camp was two Januarys ago, when Matt and I decided to go all cash.  I made my boot camp public on Facebook and wrote daily posts about what it was like to go from debit cards to using cash.  Two years later we live in a cash society in this house.

This year it’s dishes.  I’ve lived for 20 years on the philosophy that no dish should be washed on the day it got dirty, but I’ve decided to change that, Lord willing.  So for the next 30 days I’m doing boot camp –I shall not go to bed with a dirty kitchen (and I informed my teenage son that means even if he has to do the dishes I’m determined to meet this goal!)  I’ve challenged my entire family to boot camp with me, so we’re making a game of it this month.  Each person in the family has chosen his own goal, and we’ll have fun hounding each other about it.

 Wanna play?  Determine a boot camp goal and comment about it below –would love to hear one place in which you’re willing to make every effort to gain self control.

self control: an introduction

Pilates.  Everyone is doing it, so I plop in a DVD and give it a go.  I like the nice-and-slow for this 40-something body.  Not complicated like step aerobics, in which I attempted to do myself bodily harm by trying to move my feet onto the step and twist and turn and down again too fast -me in the mirror faced one direction while everyone else in the class was facing the other.  I can do Pilates in my living room, and it seems to cause as much pain the next day as did step aerobics, so I don’t feel I’m cheating myself out of exercise.  Mari Windsor, with her cheerful smile coming from her already-toned body saying, “Stretch –a little farther, a little farther.  For me it’s never enough.”  The exercises are always the same on the DVD, day after day, but one day my hands get closer to toes than they did the day before.  This week I can stretch a little farther than last week, which makes me want to try to stretch even farther.

A slow stretch into strength and flexibility and abs to be proud of.  “Contrology” is the word Joseph Pilates coined to describe the mind controlling the movements of the muscles.

So many areas in my life out of control.  Too much television.  Too much sugar.  Too many words to the wrong people at the wrong time.  Not enough house cleaning.  Not enough attention to people.  Not enough vegetables.  Spending out of control.  Lack of discipline to make a meal every night.  Lack of self control everywhere. 

Everyone feels it.  Everyone lacks the control and talks about the lack every day.  Guilt because of not accomplishing what should have been accomplished -again.  Guilt because of doing what should not have been done –again.  Apologizing to God.  Apologizing to people.  Guilt everywhere.

And with the guilt come attempts.  Monday morning diets.  New Year resolutions.  I’m not going to speak like that to my kids ever again.  I’m only going to be on Facebook for five minutes at a time.  I’m not going to buy anymore of those.  I’m going to finish my list.  Valiant attempts to change, to gain self control. 

Followed most often by failure. 

And with failure comes hopelessness.  I’ll never be able to control what I eat.  I’ll never control what I say.  I'll never control how I speak.  I’ll never.  I’ll never. 

And with the I’ll never comes why try.  Why try again?

But one day I did try.  I stretched a little farther, a little farther.  And this time it worked.  And because it worked I was able to stretch farther the next time.

And because it worked I’m writing it down for you.

Nice and slow.  I encourage you to stretch, just a little bit at first but then a little farther.  Contrology. 

The secrets are in the Bible.  Good news:  In the Christ-filled life we are able to achieve a toned life.

Follow my blog this year as I write a few times a week about living a self-controlled life.  Not because I've achieved it but because I finally have hope that I can.