Disciplines

             Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far away. (Proverbs 22:15)

 

            Great faith, like great strength in general, is revealed by the ease of its workings.

                                                                             Dallas Willard

 

            Recently, I shared the Dallas Willard quote from above. This morning, I listened to John Ortberg, who quoted Prof. Willard in saying that discipline are those things we choose to do that enable us to do things we cannot currently do.  One of the amusing things that happened repeatedly this past winter was my being stopped by people who were amazed that I can crochet while walking. Now, I’m not going to say that my crocheting is top-notch, but now that I’m back north and must walk on the roads here, I’m noticing how much I don’t like not being able to crochet or do plastic canvas while walking. I also notice that I’m praying more as I walk because my mind is not taken up with handling a hook and yarn.

            Crocheting, crocheting while walking, and praying while walking all take discipline. But the discipline of wrapping yarn around a hook, inserting it in a loop, etc. is not about wrapping yarn around a hook, inserting it in a loop, etc. Those disciplines have the goal of a shawl, a dishcloth, or some other finished product. When you start out, you must think about what you’re doing. Later, you can add walking to the mix if you want.

            The discipline of prayer isn’t just about running through a list of things. The goal is to interact with God, love Him, love your neighbors, family members, and others better, live by faith, learn to cooperate with God, and sometimes let go of things.

            John Ortberg talked about the discipline of solitude, which brought back to mind the time when I was jogging, when it took half my distance to get past all the noise in my head, so that I could be alone with God. What I forgot about that time is that God wasn’t absent in that noisy time. We dealt with the noises and the noisiness. I learned to embrace, enjoy, and desire the time that followed when I could just be for a little while. Now, I have so much going on that I don’t know where I could fit in just being. But I need to get back to it.  

            But here’s the thing. While practicing this solitude and dealing with the noise so that I could just be, I wasn’t sitting in the dark. I was jogging or walking with a dog. I might have had a camera around my neck. Those activities contributed to my being able to work through the noise and move beyond it. It was while doing those things that I got to think. And thinking seems to be rare or absent when I’m doing things now.

            In seeking God, I need to learn to seek God and think and talk things over with God while doing something else. I’ve learned to crochet and do plastic canvas while I’m walking. Now I need to learn to seek God while I crochet and do plastic canvas.