Thinking Out Loud, Volume CCCLXV

All your meals are free on a cruise. You can fill your plate as many times as you like and then eat five desserts if that's what you want to do....and it doesn't cost you one thin dime. Oh, and I also have some prime property for sale on Missouri's east coast, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, if you're interested. The TV evangelist says if you'll send him a small offering of $50 or more, he'll send you, absolutely free, an 8 X 10 autographed portrait of him and his wife standing in front of their new church building. All you have to do is enclose $7.50 in addition to your offering for shipping and handling, and the picture is yours for free. When I first started running, I tried to enter every 5K race that came to town, and every one of them gave me a free tee shirt after I paid my $20 registration fee. Then one day it dawned on me that I could not afford any more free tee shirts. I don't know how many rules of life there are, but rule number 1 is "Anything of value has a price tag," and it never ceases to amaze me just how many people are apparently unaware of that rule. If you see an ad that says, "Try our great new weight loss plan! There's no exercise involved and you can eat all you want," you should use that paper as a liner for the bottom of your bird cage. If it's worth something, someone has to pay for it. It may not cost you money, but it will cost you something. That handsome young hunk with the bulging biceps that you see every week didn't get that way by accident...he earned it. That beautiful, slim young lady with the gorgeous hair and firm body paid a steep price to look like that. Who would not want to be able to play golf like Tiger Woods, but who among us would be willing to pay the price that he has paid to get that good? I can testify to the fact that trying to live the easy, good life only produces undesirable results. I can also testify to the fact that living a life of discipline can prepare an individual to achieve goals he never thought he could reach. I love the way it's stated in Hebrews 12:11: "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." Living a disciplined lifestyle is the price you pay for becoming the person you want to be, and you cannot become that person till you've paid that price. Living a disciplined life will require you to move out of your comfort zone...it means you have to go beyond what comes easy. Think about the person that you look up to as a role model. Whoever it is, I'll bet he's not a lazy slouch who never seems to be able to get it all together. Most likely, it's someone who was willing to pay the price to become the person he is. The good news is, you can be that person, too. But it's gonna cost you. Preston