In life, we often live by a set of rules.  Rules are usually the things we are “not allowed” to do like “No being in the hall without a pass” or “Curfew is at midnight.”  I was thinking about my time on The Biggest Loser and the rules we had to follow.  They included “keep a food journal and a calorie log, work out until you hit your calorie burn each day NO MATTER WHAT, run a marathon, participate in a scary and tough challenge” and more.

    What if we modeled our rules after the ideals of those?  Those rules made us better in life by making positive changes that made us better than before.  We sometimes look at life as living within the confines of our rules.  Sure, we all have to have limiting rules, but we rarely set expanding rules!  How about setting some rules in your life that -s t r e t c h- you?  Instead of feeling comfortable in the confines of your rules begin to feel a little uncomfortable by the challenges of your rules.  Set some rules like “get up an hour earlier to read” or “sign up for that 10K and begin training.”  Maybe “spend more time with my wife” or “volunteer once a week at the shelter.”

   Setting “expanding” rules like these that stretch you to be better will most definitely pay dividends.  I get up at 5:30 each morning and spend 1 hour in quiet time.  I drink a cup of coffee and read or watch a Joyce Meyer sermon.  Also, I set a rule each day to get my workout in by 10am.  Then, in the afternoon when my kids get home I will often do something else.  I am seeing dividends as I set “expanding” rules that –s t r e t c h- me and less limiting rules that keep me comfortably in line.   That is what the enemy wants you to do…just sit there complacent with where you are…following the rules that keep you there and not setting any other rules that might take you further in life.  Wake up and set a new rule today!