Discipline Is a Key to God’s Blessings

Today’s reading: 2 Peter 1:3-11

I heard a radio interview recently with a writer who has kept a diary almost every day since the 1970’s. His entries are informal and random. Some days he devotes just 30 minutes to them and others more than 2 hours. He uses the pieces to generate and develop ideas for the writing that he does for money. This all caught my attention because it reminded me of these devotionals that I write every day.

One of-hand remark in this interview stayed with me longer than it probably would for most people. (The interviewer, in fact, seemed to take very little notice of it.) The writer says he misses, on average, just 2-3 days per year.

My brain is funny sometimes. When I heard that, I wondered what sort of events would cause the man to skip his dairy time. Since the interviewer did not share my curiosity on that topic, I’ll have to assume it’s the usual sort of things that cause us all to deviate from our routines: trips, holidays, sickness, etc.

I remember feeling some relief at hearing that this man does not have a perfect record of writing in his diary every single day. Further, it was helpful to realize that he doesn’t keep track of exactly how many days he misses. I have sort of developed this same attitude toward these devotionals,which I have been writing since January 19, and I think it’s, mostly, a healthy mindset.

I heard the interview about a month ago, not long after I had missed my first day of writing this devotional.  I can’t tell you now what caused me to miss that day, nor can I even recall the exact date. But I can say that I did not feel the guilt or shame that I expected to experience, and no one in my growing audience seemed to even notice my absence. I simply had more important priorities that day, and there is nothing wrong with that. No one, not even God,  is expecting me to maintain perfect attendance here. I do not believe I have ever even promised that. (This reminds me of the various “daily” newspapers I know, one of which I even worked for,  that do not publish on weekends.)

I bring all of this up today because yesterday was hectic, and now there are two days in which I did not write this devotional. I need to explain why I emphasized “mostly” above.

My excuse for not writing yesterday is perfectly valid. I woke up to a house full of fleas that had invaded my house overnight through the temporary hole I’d made in the floor I’m repairing these days.  Resolving this minor emergency required me to abandon my regular routine for the day and reschedule several appointments. I didn’t think of this devotional until nearly midnight when I was too exhausted to give it proper consideration.

But, before I went to sleep, I looked over the day’s reading quickly and realized I had been making a mistake all day.

“Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants of the divine nature. For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge,  and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love. For if these things are yours and are increasing among you, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Verses 4-8)

Those pesky fleas got me off track from God. They caught me by such surprise that I went through the day without consulting him even once.

I am fortunate that all of my previous study carried me. While I gave little thought to God all day, it’s clear He was thinking of me and guiding me. Otherwise, I would have made a few enemies yesterday.

For starters, the woman at the pest control company who heard me say “bees” instead of fleas and sent a man in a bee keepers suit would likely be in a stern meeting with her bosses today. (Instead, several of us all got a good laugh over the innocent, and quite funny,  mistake.) Then I would probably be asking friends today to recommend me a new veterinarian after the woman at my vet’s office sold me $100 worth of flea killing stuff that simply did not work as promised. And that’s just the start: I have several friends who promised to come help in my emergency but then did not. (And I know one of these friends spent several hours at a bar near my house instead.) The kid at the hamburger joint got my lunch order completely wrong. A lady at my dad’s doctor’s office gave me a little bit of grief when I called to reschedule an appointment we would be missing. And the list goes on.

But for the Grace of God (which I didn’t acknowledge all day), I would have been a mean son-of-a gun yesterday.

So, while I am not going to make any life-long promises here, I do vow to get caught up on the writing of these devotionals very soon.  Look for two articles from me either today or tomorrow. Yes, I have a full schedule of activities planned for these next two days, and yes, I’m sure all readers and even God will forgive me if I do not make good on this vow.  But that’s not the point.

I must always remember to keep God as my only focus. That requires the kind of discipline that I can practice daily through the writing of these devotionals — even amidst the world’s chaos and corruption, which would love for me to give up this daily habit entirely.

Thanks be to God for always being with me — even when I have forgotten Him.