Discipline Leads to Happiness and Fulfillment

Our world sometimes seems torn between obsessions with either “spring breaks” or “spas.” For a Gemini like me, I enjoy the wonderful contrasts. “Spring breaks” stand for allowing anything and everything. All forms of restraint are abandoned, which leads to happiness, fulfillment and renewal – or so the ads would have us believe. Another set of ads tout the “spa” approach. Come for a week or two of deprivation and regimentation and, at the end, a “new you” will emerge – happy and fulfilled. In a more moderate version, most of us tend to gravitate toward the “spring break” approach to life: less restraint will make us happier and more fulfilled. Lent suggests we rethink that a bit: a healthy dose of discipline leads to happiness and fulfillment. It’s worth mentioning that the “big fulfillment” – the resurrection came through Jesus’ discipline of the cross. IJS.

Tip:         

Pick a particularly hard commandment today and focus on keeping that command for the whole day. See how much more alive you feel at the end of the day

Click here for today’s readings.

Verse:

Isaiah 1:16-17

Wash yourselves clean!
Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes;
cease doing evil; learn to do good.
Make justice your aim: redress the wronged,
hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow.