Discipline and balance

I have to admit that sloth and gluttony are enjoyable for a season, or at least the idea is enjoyable.

For me it always starts out that I'm going to give myself a little treat of relaxation: maybe I'll watch a little TV on my day off and prepare a nice meal. This often turns into a wasted day lying on the sofa mindlessly watching an infomercial for the twelfth time and wishing I had a box of cookies in the pantry to scarf down.

About 5 years ago I started learning about balance. It started as a method to control my migraines. If I sleep enough (but not too much), have one cup of coffee (not half the pot), do some physical labor and eat a well-rounded meal I can often ward off a debilitating headache. Around that time I met a gal at church who was wanting to learn about balance as well (it seemed strange to me because she seemed to have everything together). So, I started praying about learning balance holistically - in my relationship with the Lord, in my activity and in my rest.

I'm not very good at balancing. It's not something that comes naturally to me. I have a tendency to do all or nothing. I have to be deliberate in my balance (it almost seems like an oxymoron). I have to be disciplined in my balance. The Lord is slowly teaching me discipline and balance (teaching - He doesn't just bestow it on me).

I was surfing the web and come across an article with these verses that give me some encouragement:

Hebrews 12:4-11 (NASB)
You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,
"MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM; FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES."
It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.