If you're like me your day is most often a whirlwind. Alarm goes off.  Shower.  Quiet time.  Dress.  Work.  Lunch.  Work some more.  Go home.  Chores/homework.  Dinner.  More chores/homework.  Bed.  Repeat process. 

In the transition times between the various stages of the day my thoughts are mostly consumed with the next thing that has to be done.  Most days the topic of my quiet time is swept up by the various tasks of the day within a couple of hours.  This often led to frustration in my spiritual life.  I just couldn't get why I wasn't making any discernible progress in growing to be more like Christ; for instance, why I was still struggling with my attitude when I identified it as a problem to work on 6 months earlier.

Several months ago I made the decision to intentionally slow down my day at points and reflect on a passage of Scripture, or a truth of some sort, or simply an adjustment in thinking or behavior that I felt the Lord wanted me to make.  Even though these were short moments of reflection, only 2-5 minutes apiece, the effect on my spiritual growth was immense.  The Lord began to connect the dots between the truths of Scripture and my attitude, my behavior, and my actions in a way that I had not experienced in a long time. 

Taking a few moments to reflect provides a unification point for your day.  It provides an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to bring the truth of Scripture to bear on your life in increasingly applicable ways.  Reflection makes you more sensitive to spiritual realities and the struggles of those around you because you are intentionally reflecting on spiritual things.

Reflection can take several forms:

1)Praying through Scripture-- this is the method I use most of the time.  Weekly, I identify a chunk of verses to memorize that use as the focus of my reflection times.

2)General prayer-- taking the time to bring "mundane" elements of your day to the Lord.  This allows you to begin to discern spiritual realities behind events you don't normally think of as having spiritual components.

3)Journaling-- provides an opportunity to reflect on the day as a whole and what the Lord is teaching you in a manner which is easy to reflect on even months down the road. 

What other forms of reflection have you found to be helpful in your walk with Christ?

A confession:

I've tried the whole spiritual discipline spiel before.  I've decided I was going to get up earlier to study harder and pray longer.  I've decided I was going to practice fasting and remembered my vow as I scarfed down breakfast the morning said fast was to begin.  I've never attempted a Sabbath because, like everybody else, there's just too much to do to stop for a day.

Recently the Lord has placed the disciplines on my heart again.  This time things are different.  The resolutions that I've made have (more often than not) stuck.   I've remained committed through projects being due, my wife being sick for 3 consecutive weeks, and a stressful few weeks on the job.  

The difference has been my motivation.  In the past I've undertaken discipline as something that I "ought" to do because I'm supposed to be a spiritual leader.  Now, I understand discipline to be a response to the grace of God in Christ showered on me.  I want to discipline myself to become more like Christ because He is worth becoming more like!  The only real reason to even practice discipline is to conform oneself to the image of Christ through communing with the Father.

But really, how can this be accomplished?  Here are a few practical suggestions:

1. Know yourself.  If you're not a morning person, don't commit to too much in the morning.  Find consistent points in your day which you can devote to disciplines (i.e. prayer, Bible study, Bible reading, reflection, etc.).
2. Identify a truth to reflect on throughout your day.  Pray about it before you start your day, as you go through your day, and before you end your day.  Write it down in places that you will see regularly.  I have a chunk of Scripture that I try to memorize every week that I write on note cards and put in front of the keyboard of my home computer and my office computer.  Every time I sit down I read it and reflect before I do whatever it was I was intending to do.
3. Create habits.  This requires some pre-planning.  Know the times and portions of your day that you regularly have free and utilize those times.  
4. Eliminate distractions.  The best pre-work that was done for devoting myself to discipline was getting rid of cable.  Cutting cable was done in my house for the extremely spiritual reason of budget cuts, but nothing that has been done in the last 6 months prepared the way for the Lord to move in my life like eliminating this needless distraction.  I am now much more likely to come home and reflect on my day and the truth of God instead of vedging out on the couch to ESPN.

How about you?  How do you discipline yourself for godliness?