There is an ever increasing body of writing on the subject of Spiritual Disciplines. I have contributed to the pile of new books on the subject with Choose The Life, Exploring a faith that embraces discipleship and with, [pardon the title] The Complete Book of Discipleship. This writing encourages readers to intentionally choose to follow Jesus, and part of that means engaging in the same practices he modeled. For example, prayer, fasting, silence, solitude, frugality, worship, service, and sacrifice. Practicing the intentional ones or voluntary disciplines are like preventive health care, there is not a lot of buzz about it, because it helps us avoid a lot of life's negative experience that comes from bad habits and attitudes. But then there are the non-voluntary disciplines, they come to us in the form of conflict, persecution, and the dark night of the soul. It is quite often said, "I learned much more through my suffering than in the more normal events of my life."  This is often the case because it is easier to remember being run over by a motorcycle than the six weeks you were reading Daily Bread. Times of crisis and loss are commemorated, while daily bible reading can fall into the same category as push ups. Many of us sometimes think there are enough of the non-voluntary spiritual disciplines that they take up all our time. But I might suggest that the intentional practice of the voluntary will help us endure the non-voluntary.