Fruit of the Spirit: Self-Control/Self-Discipline

2 Timothy 1:7 “For the spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline.”

Yeah! March is here. That means spring is coming. I bought myself a gorgeous pink Azalea for my table to welcome spring into my home. I love spring!

This month I have chose Self-control/Self-discipline as the fruit of the spirit I am focusing on this month. The scripture above jumped out at me for this month.

Self-discipline/Self-control looks like this for me: it means doing all the necessary things that I must do to live well with my chronically ill body. That means eating well and moving my body and going to the doctor.  It means, taking time daily to be with God and study what His word says. It means following through when I make promises to people in my life or to myself. It also means to not give up or give in when life knocks you down.

I am not the best at self-control/self-discipline. The last two weeks of February I started to use my balance ball and my core ball. I am doing five minutes. I am starting at 5 minutes, every day. I received a core kit that I will be using after I get up to 20 minutes on my balance ball. I am enjoying the process of getting to know my balance ball. I have not lost my stability on the ball even though it has been over a year since I have been on one. I love teasing my caregiver with the ball. She is nervous to sit on it herself and is amazed at my balance. I am working on getting her to try it one day. Another way I will be working on self-discipline/self-control will be getting back into journaling. I received three journals. One was a gift from my sister for Christmas. The other two are ones I am to review for my blog. I have lost my practice of journaling. Journaling allowed me to express my emotions in a safe place that I only saw. It is a great way to get all the gunk out so that I can focus on the positives that enlighten my life. This aligns with my focus word this year “intentional”.

This morning I woke up with a headache. I already had an appointment to get a CT scan done of my lungs for my doctor. I chose to get up and get the scan done anyway. I am choosing to relax today and take care of my body. That is being intentional. That is being self-disciplined. Being self-discipline does not mean being on a rigid schedule and following all the rules. It means, being flexible enough to know that sometimes you have to rest, you have to change your course, sometimes you have to accommodate others in your life without losing your intentional goal. Everyone who is a Christian’s intentional goal is to be in relationship with Jesus Christ.

Remember to breathe. Comment below what self-discipline means to you and in what ways you will focus on that in March. Until next time.