Discipline to be a Disciple
I don’t remember when I made the connection between the words “discipline” and “disciple”, because they didn’t occupy the same space in my head. Discipline was something that happened to you when you got in trouble for doing something you shouldn’t (which probably says more about my psychology than I want to admit) and a disciple was a student – particularly of Jesus. Those two things were very different to me, so I didn’t connect them until it was pointed out to me that a disciple takes on the discipline of his or her teacher. This was sometimes referred to as a “yoke” (more on that later). Suddenly the term “discipline” became much more positive a word for me and made a lot more sense in the idea of learning a skill or aptitude – the discipline of karate or chemistry or tatting. It takes a lot of practice and endurance get good at any skill, and part of the discipline is to keep at it, especially in the face of setbacks, roadblocks, even tragedies. Jesus’ disciples w