Celebration of Discipline

To have your own copy of this book, contact Suria at: [email protected]

This month we take a closer look at chapter 5, Celebration of Discipline, from my new creative workbook, Family Joy. My contact details will appear at the end of this video, if you are interested in purchasing your own copy.

Now, while the Bible remains my number one read since I gave my life to the LORD, there are other books that I return to again and again. One of them is Richard Foster’s iconic Celebration of Discipline. In identifying twelve disciplines, four inward, four outward and four corporate, Christians are equipped with precious tools to help us grow closer to the Lord and dig deeper into His eternal truths.

We must understand that while Jesus rarely commanded these life-changing practices or spiritual disciplines, every one of them is grounded in His life. As we follow Him through the gospels along a path of disciplined grace, we will learn how to maintain the same delicate balance between theory and practice, meditation and outreach. For the classical disciplines must be practiced in the humdrum of ordinary living as we care for our children, make beds, cook food, and must be exercised in our everyday relationships with our spouse, siblings, friends and neighbours.

As a young mother the following excerpt from A Legacy of Love, written by the daughter and namesake of Ruth Graham, the wife to Billy Graham, hugely impacted me. In this precious study of homemaking and mothering, Ruth shares a memory of her mother’s desk.

But perhaps the most distinctive and constant feature of Mother’s desk was her open Bible. She kept it front and center on the desk and would read from it throughout the day, taking a few moments here and there to glean nuggets of truth. Other books and notebooks might stay open alongside Mother’s Bible, showing the desk as a place in constant use. And her desk was in constant use. For in Mother’s case, Bible reading, studying, writing and learning were not so much activities as states of being.

I instinctively understood that the disciplines practised here were life-giving and life-sustaining. Therefore it is my prayer that God will help each one of us to facilitate a lifestyle and a home where our children are given an opportunity and tools to hone these same disciplines — to His honour and glory.

In our practical application this month I would like you to create an action plan for Bible reading and prayer that will ignite a new passion for family devotions in this season of your lives. Please share with us in the comment section of this video some practical suggestions of how to make family devotions rich and rewarding. It is such a privilege to learn from one another as fellow believers.