The challenge of being a disciple
September 7, 2007 11:47 am DiscipleWhat is a disciple? No, it’s not some one dressed up in a saffron sarong trying to get you to buy a daisy at your local airport. A disciple is simple a person who chooses to conform to a discipline. Isn’t that a circular definition? What’s a discipline then, something a disciple does? Well yes, but there’s a bigger and better answer to that.
For some time I have been toying with a concept of how to live a life that mattered, hmm you could say a life of significance. I even tried to set up a web site around the theme. Something that I discovered was that there are small things you do that make your life very efficient and powerful.
These are routine things, like getting ready for work. You have a number of tasks to complete: getting out of bed, getting something to eat, taking care of morning things around the house – maybe some chores, some reading, some quiet meditation time, getting cleaned up, picking clothes, getting dressed, and getting out the door to probably got entangled in traffic. Whatever your routine, you complete it with efficiency and in a short period of time. Well, unless you are constantly having your pay docked, or you are getting fired for never making it into work until lunch time… in which case you have other problems we should discuss. If you actually stopped and took time to really ponder and think through what you do in your morning routine – it very well could take you until lunch time to get out the door.
But you don’t. You get all that done and get on to work. What is it that makes you move through all that without even thinking about it. Is it the fact that it’s become routine? Often while all these events take place you have time to listen to the news, chat with family members, or let your mind wander.
If you stop and think about it, you have a ton of these little micro routines in your every day life. I was calling them micro rituals for a time, but I think the term discipline is more appropriate.
It is these little disciplines that can make a huge difference in your life. So become a disciple, be a person that submits to discipline. Much more on this later.
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