Make Your Bed

"If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed." That's how the commencement address started at The University of Texas at Austin on May 17, 2014. The speaker was Admiral William H. McRaven.

I never was curious enough to read the speech in its entirety until today, though I never have forgotten the opening line, having seen it on my Facebook feed many years ago.

i knew it must be about personal discipline. It was, at least partly. The main thrust was that if you make your bed each day you have at least one accomplishment under your belt, and that will give you momentum to accomplish more.

I'll take it a little farther. if you develop a few important disciplines, you'll give your life a bit of order. It's hard to get very far in life if you don't establish some direction. Even an author or painter or sculptor (the creative types) can't keep flying off in a zillion directions and expect to accomplish great things.

Couple that with the idea that many great things must be done by taking one step at a time. Few great accomplishments are 'one and done.'

Maybe making your bed isn't the greatest habit by which to change the world. You could just as well list brushing your teeth or combing your hair. Washing the dishes is a candidate.

My favorite habit to suggest would be reading your Bible. Most people would agree that it is a good thing to do, right? Not a single day's reading will make great changes in you, but over a lifetime you can't help but discover that you've developed a different lifestyle. Once you choose to claim the Bible as authoritative, it will make you better. You may not see immediate change, but, then, the Admiral's graduation speech didn't claim great changes for one day of making your bed, either.

Psalm 119:105, "Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."