To discipline is to disciple

Today's entry really has very little to do with my children, so if you only read to see what they're doing today, you might be disappointed. This morning, as soon as my feet hit the floor I was reminded of one of my husband's favorite singers, Randy Travis. He has a beautiful song on his praise cd called "that's jesus" it's not a new cd and certainly not my favorite style of music. In this particular song he says, "when I wake up in the morning and put my feet on the floor, I thank him for the day, that he gave me one more." That's all I could think of when I woke up this morning. I am very blessed to have another day to live, and he just wants me to live for him today. Doesn't seem so hard, right? ha! I wish it were easy, but then there wouldn't be anything to strive for.
The other day, I was reading something on the topic of "discipline" and in the article it reminded the readers that the word is not a bad word or something that one should grieve. Instead, the latin meaning of the word means "pupil", and the definition in a secular dictionary means 'training or something to produce an expected pattern of behavior', or "punishment intended to correct or train". Let's take this for example, say that you had a little girl who liked gymnastics and she was getting really good at it, and was even ready to compete locally. The training involved at that point gets to be pretty rigourous. They have to come in before school, and right after school to get their bodies in submission to be able to perform for the length of time needed, and for the different rotations (vault, beam, floor, and uneven bars). Now, back to your little gymnast, let's say she is doing very well, she even wakes up early the first couple of months to be able to get to a.m. practice on time. She's feeling great, and doing even better than expected by your or her coaches. Then, one morning she doesn't want to go to practice and then, she forgets her leotard and doesn't make it to the p.m. practice. Do you think missing even one day of practice and training would make a difference? Let's even say that she doesn't want to go back after she misses a few times, what would you do as a parent? Would you tell her to just quit? Would you push her to do better?
Let me clarify right now, I am not saying that you must let your child never quit anything, but I do believe that is a big problem for my generation down. We have been taught by the world that if something gets too hard or is too much for us to handle we quit. This goes completely against the Bible or the Biblical model of discipleship and our previous definition of discipline. To discipline is to disciple. If you don't ever push (which means pain whether physical or emotional), then you don't ever see the other side of the discipline by giving up before you get to it.
Some of my favorite verses are in James 1. Look at James 1: 2-4. "Dear brothers and sisters, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything." NLT This is a beautiful descrption of what I am describing about discipline. May you look at discipline or correction from God or others as your opportunity to grow and become more like Jesus today.
Jamie