The hour that we gained this past weekend sure was nice! How did you spend your extra time? I felt an extra freedom. I am still feeling it this week, how about you? My internal clock is on the old schedule and I wake earlier and get a little more accomplished each day.
Yesterday, my daughter finished her homeschool work by 10:00 a.m.! That is a record in this household! She started early, diligently focused, and then felt free for the rest of the day, reaping the benefits of her self-discipline. Incidentally, she read a quote from Booker T. Washington that reinforced her valuable lesson, “Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work.”
Self discipline brings freedom, doesn’t it? When we save money, working hard to pinch pennies, we later experience a freedom and flexibility in our finances that we wouldn’t have otherwise had. There is freedom in marriage when a couple chooses purity and waits for each other. There is freedom in our health when we eat right and exercise. At first, we may not feel so free, but all is worth our efforts. As Dr. Charles Stanley says in his Life Principle Notes, "You reap what you sow, more than you sow, and later than you sow." I doubt if my daughter felt free yesterday when she was buckling down with school, but what freedom she felt the remainder of the day!
Galatians 6:9 says,
“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
Countless examples follow this same principle. It is how God designed life. He wants what is best for us, and this is why there is freedom in living for Christ. When we choose sin, we may think that we are living freely, but nothing could be further from the truth. Sin put us in bondage. So many are dealing with debt, addictions…you name it, because of being under the yoke of sin.
Galatians 5:1 says:
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”
The freedom that Satan wants us to think we have if we do whatever we want is merely a trap, and we most assuredly will eventually suffer because of it, and so will our families.
On the other hand, when we sow good things, we reap good things. It may take a while before we experience the benefits, but it will be well worth it! Now, if I can just get myself to follow that principle with better eating habits!
2 comments:
I love this post! Self-discipline is something I am specifically working on right now, so this was a very timely reminder for me. :) Thank you! And the picture of your girl is beautiful, too. Looks like you have some lovely fall color there right now! Ours is all gone, sadly. :(
And if we could finish school by 10 am, I would be so excited . . . however, we are usually just getting started around then. :) I guess it is a mixed blessing that my kiddos aren't early risers! :)
I know what you mean about a mixed blessing of not being early risers. My kids aren't early birds either, which is sometimes nice, especially when I am enjoying a quiet morning. But some days there just isn't enough hours to get done what we set out to do. :)
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