SEPTEMBER 23, 2026

 “A disciplined mind leads to happiness, and an undisciplined mind leads to suffering.” 

― Dalai Lama XIV, The Art of Happiness

SONG OF SOLOMON 6-8

7Many waters cannot quench love;

rivers cannot sweep it away.

If one were to give

all the wealth of one’s house for love,

it^c would be utterly scorned. (8:7) 

GALATIANS 1

10Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

JOURNAL 

Teaching seventh graders has a way of holding up a mirror. I can watch a student become frustrated, embarrassed, bored, excited, or angry and then immediately act out whatever he is feeling. From the outside, it is easy to call it a lack of self-control. But the more I watch them, the more I recognize myself. I may be better at disguising it, but I often do the same thing. I feel something and immediately believe I need to respond to it. Anxiety says worry, so I worry. Restlessness says move, so I move. Frustration says react, so I react. Fear says avoid, so I avoid. The emotion becomes the command, and I become its servant.

Even as I sit here writing this, I can feel the urge to get up and walk around. There is an energy telling me to move on to something else. But I don't have to obey it. I can notice it, allow it to be there, and continue typing. That seems incredibly small, but perhaps this is exactly where discipline begins. I used to think discipline meant fighting my emotions, suppressing them, or somehow making myself stop feeling them. I am beginning to understand that real discipline may be something very different. I can experience an emotion without becoming the emotion. I can feel fear without being controlled by fear, anger without reacting in anger, anxiety without chasing every anxious thought, and an impulse without obeying it. There is tremendous freedom in realizing that.

Maybe this is part of what Paul is getting at when he asks, "Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God?" Something is always asking for my obedience. Other people's opinions, my emotions, my fears, my appetites, my desire for comfort, or God. Discipline is deciding which voice gets authority. That also changes the way I think about the discipline I am trying to teach my students and players. Discipline isn't simply behaving correctly when a teacher or coach is watching. It is developing the ability to create space between what I feel and what I do. It is learning that discomfort does not require escape, anger does not require reaction, fear does not require retreat, and desire does not require satisfaction.

Perhaps that is where real confidence comes from. Not from believing I will always feel strong, peaceful, or motivated, but from knowing that whatever I feel does not have to determine what I do. A disciplined mind isn't a mind without emotion. It is a mind capable of experiencing emotion, listening to it, learning from it, and then choosing its response. My emotions can inform me, but they do not have to command me. God has given me the ability to choose what I serve, where I place my attention, and what I do next. That is freedom, and I am beginning to believe that kind of freedom is at the heart of discipline.

1The wicked flee though no one pursues,

but the righteous are as bold as a lion.

2When a country is rebellious, it has many rulers,

but a ruler with discernment and knowledge maintains order.

PROVERBS 28:1-2