Difficult Challenges and Self Control

The latest edition of my "One Improved Unit" column is now online. It starts:

The last year has been, and continues to be, my greatest challenge. Increasing activity in my church, learning economics, and committing to the fight for liberty over the last 9 years were easy in comparison to the challenges I've faced this year. Those were all mostly intellectual endeavors. I got interested in various things, and followed the logic. Deciding to officially "keep the commandments" was easy because I was already keeping them. My church encourages (and for some privileges requires) abstaining from alcohol and tobacco consumption. I wasn't in the habit of either. I've had challenges with sin, and still do (don't we all?), but for the most part my choosing to have faith in God was no difficult thing. Likewise, my learning economics and the philosophy of liberty were a matter of choice, of choosing to go where they were taking me. I wasn't a thief or a murderer, so adopting the non-aggression principle was also a relatively easy thing to do. But this last year I've committed to raising my kids in peace. This is where my greatest challenge lies.