The Pain of Discipline or The Pain of Regret?

"The pain of discipline is better than the pain of regret."

This might be the best quote I've ever heard. Welcome to my life, circa 29 March 2010.

Okay, so that last statement could be a slight exaggeration. It's entirely likely that two days from now I will have another quote in mind that answers the "best quote ever?" question. I may not even remember that I proclaimed this quote as the best quote ever. C'est la vie...

But for now, that quote pretty much captures the essence of my thought process, at least for the majority of this relaxing, anticipatory, sunshine-y day in Southlake, TX.

The author of this quote, at least in my consciousness (for I know not the original author, were he different from my friend), is a friend of mine in Houston. I was sharing the story of my recent life with him last week when he popped this extraordinary nugget of truth on me. Thank you, friend.

I digress.

How many times in life do we look back on our past with regret at the stupid things we've done? There's a reason everyone knows the phrase "hindsight is 20/20". We're all looking back. Yes, all of us.

I've been meditating on the last few weeks of my life a lot lately. I've said an incredible amount of truly moronic things the last few weeks, and not just to one or two people. A lot of people. But in the process, the conviction of the Lord has grown my discipline with my mouth in incredible ways.

Update on 8/21/2010: I never finished this blog, but I am publishing it now for the sake of sharing this little experience with the outside world. Enjoy.