Boundaries, Structure and Discipline

Today my mind has been on these three words: boundaries, structure and discipline.

Without going into an English lesson and giving you the defintion of each (I'm sure you know what they mean), I'll tell you why they are important.

In each of our lives, we need ALL three of these if we are going to accomplish anything. They are extremely important in our work, our faith, our marriages, our relationships, our finances and so on. Each one plays a crucial role in all aspects of our daily routine. For those who work out, how can you set boundaries and not have structure and discipline to not exceed those boundaries? For instance, you set a time to exercise, so you get up and go to the gym. You have to have created some sort of workout plan (which is structure), then you have to have the discipline to exercise and set boundaries on what food you can eat and the amount, otherwise you are wasting your time. You can have one of those critical elements in place, but without the other two, you really don't have a whole lot of anything.

Same way with marriage. When you take vows, you have to have a structure (which is the plan for you lives together), set boundaries and have the discipline to carry through. Whether it be to have a plan to buy a home, (you must have discipline to save money), or you plan to be faithful, (you must have the discipline to turn from temptation), or whatever you intend on having in your lives together.

I have found the same to be true with faith as well. You have to have boundaries, structure and discipline with whatever religion you choose to practice. I know most religions have certain times of the day they take time to pray, (that's discipline and structure). They set themselves apart from certain things they feel they cannot partake of, (that's boundaries), and so on.

I said all of that to say this: I have a friend who I thank God for. She saw me headed in the wrong direction, having feelings that I should have, thinking thoughts that I shouldn't think, and she intervened. This friend, knew NOTHING of my thoughts. I hadn't spoken with her at all regarding what was on my mind, or who. I actually hadn't spoken to her in quite some time, except to comment on each other's Facebook posts. But to speak on the phone, I think it had been more than a year. She spoke with me yesterday and instructed me to set some boundaries in my own mind and life, to RE-structure things and to have the discipline to carry them out. Do you know that she is the ONLY one who was able to shake me like that. Her voice in my ear caused me to do an about face, because I knew that it was coming from a higher power than she.

It reminds me of my niece, and how unruly she is (I won't call her mean, lol). Bear in mind that she's only nine, but she's a handful. Her mother has never disciplined her AT ALL in all her nine years, so you can imagine how she acts. Except with me. That child loves me more than anything because I have taken time out to listen to her and discipline her when she gets out of line. I can promise you this, she does NOT act like that around me. She knows that I have boundaries set, a structure of what I expect and I will discipline her if she gets out of line. But instead of hating me for making her behave, she loves me with her whole tiny heart. And I love that child so much that I want her to be the best she can be.

That's how God is with us. He loves us so much, and He wants us to be the best we can be. Sometimes He uses people in our lives like He did mine yesterday to reel us back into our boundaries, go back under our structure and become disciplined again.

Like I said, to be successful in any area of life, you have to have these three key elements lined up perfectly with each other.

Are you going to do each one of them EVERY, single day? No, probably not. I don't care who you are, you will more than likely mess up if you're a human being. But we can strive each day in all we do to ensure that we follow our plans. If we don't, we will lead unruly lives like that of my niece. So my friend was to me yesterday what I am to the little human that I love so much, she was my wrangler. LOL. The one who brought me back to my right self.

If you know anyone who needs help in any area of their lives, reach out. Maybe someone you know is having a problem with substance abuse and they need help. Go to them and offer them a plan to help them with the three things I've discussed. If you know someone who is struggling financially, maybe you can offer a hand in a financial plan and show them how to discipline themselves and start saving.

I know I'm went on and on, but my point is this: Don't leave your friends out there alone to struggle in any area. If you see that someone is experiencing hard times, reach out and help them. Show them how to live according to these basic rules.

And no, I'm not perfect. There have been many, many, many times in my life that I have NOT lived by these principles, at all. And at times I still don't, hence the need for my friend yesterday and her advice. But when we get our heads on straight, we can reach out to others to help them. And if you are in need of improving any of these areas of your life, there's no time like today to start. I love you all and I want to see you

all be successful.

Remember to work hard and Dream Big!!

Much love,

Christy