The Disciplined Life

So what does the disciplined life look like?  I'm still learning that and I think I have a long way to go.  But I wrote this back in January when I started this journey.  I can't honestly say I've achieved what I'm about to share with you but I am making strides to get there and anticipate arriving someday. 

I have a daily schedule.  The header reads, "Life Under Discipline."  The first page is the schedule.  The second page has some ideas and plans for how I'm going to live.  Today I simply want to focus on the first item on that second page.

"Meal times are sacred - not necessarily when they happen as there needs to be a little flexibility but they are sacred that they happen and how they happen.  Meal times will be intentional times of communion with God or personal development.  Eating has been both an escape and an afterthought.  Now it will be intentional and redeemed."

I admit I have a long way to go in this area.  But here are some things I think this means even though I haven't gotten there yet.  In my former life my kitchen table was a place to store things.  Meals were eaten in front of the TV or computer.  In my new life my kitchen table will be redeemed and become a place not only to eat but to commune with God.  It will become a holy space.  I have a table in my office - same concept - storage.  It too will become a place of development - spiritual, emotional, mental, physical.  I found as I entered the summer I started to skip meals again.  I bought a mini-fridge so I can keep the foods I need to eat in my office and have no excuse to skip a meal.

I have a meal plan - it doesn't yet include what I'm going to eat at every meal but it certainly could.  For me it's about making sure I eat breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, and an evening snack.  This keeps food digesting through most of the day and keeps my metabolism burning so it speeds up.  I spread my lower calorie count out over 5-6 meals a day.  By doing that I am seldom stuffed/bloated anymore and also seldom hungry.  I am learning to eat because it's time to refuel, not because I am or am not hungry.  And if I get hungry and it's not time to eat yet, I pop a 5 calorie piece of Extra Sugar Free gum to take the edge off my hunger.

So while I'm eating better I'm growing.  I'm learning.  I'm developing.  I'm becoming the man I was created to be and have longed for years to be.  Not for me but all for Him.

Less of me.  More of Him.

-Eric