"No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who are trained by it." Hebrews 12:11 I remember being small and being disciplined by my dad. I only had two or three spankings when I was young. It always made me feel sad that I had disappointed my dad. As I got older in my teen years, the discipline came more, and although then I thought my parents were wrong, didn't understand and was so caught up in my own thoughts, today I know just how right they were. Even though I didn't grow up in a christian home, I was still taught right from wrong. As a teen I thought I knew it all, I thought I want to live my own life, and no one had the right to tell me different. Oh, how wrong I was. My parents loved me, and only wanted the best for me, only wanted to protect me, and guide me the best they could. Did they make mistakes? Yes, we all do, but for the most part, my parents were never wrong in teaching me. No one likes to be told what to do, how to live, and be disciplined for not doing so. I disobeyed my dad when he told me not to ride my bike across the road. He knew the dangers, I thought I could overcome them. When I took the car as a teen for a drive with my cousin I was disciplined. I disobeyed my mom, and therefore hated it at the time, but she knew what was best for me, she knew the danger I could be in. We often think our parents are wrong for teaching us about Christ, about life, and really anything. We don't really realized just how smart and wise they are until we ourselves have children, and then it all comes rushing back, every time you disobeyed, everytime you lied, everytime you saw the look of pain in your parents eyes. Today as a christian woman, I am disciplined by Christ when I do wrong. He shows me in many ways and I hear Him speak to my heart. I can only imagine the look on His face when He tells me to go one way and I go the opposite. He disciplines us out of love, out of passion, and out of honor to Him. Often when we point out the sins of others, those are the very sins we are doing. Often when we point the finger, the Lord soon points one back. His word is our teaching tool. It is the book to guide our lives forever. It is the compass that leads us straight to Him. We can either learn the easy way and follow Him now, or we can learn the hard way, and stumble over living our own lives without His guidance. He sees what is ahead for us, He sees what we are facing today, and He is pointing out in His word how we should live, what we should do, and how we get there. When we choose to walk our own way, He may allow it for awhile, even months, He will give us enough rope,and we will soon stumble and fall. Then we can only blame our situation on ourselves. The blessings in all this disipline is He loves us, He forgives us, He calls us, He wants to have a relationship with us daily,not on our terms,but His. We can often try to make lists for ourselves or others to follow. The only list of love to follow is God's. When we do follow, all else in our lives comes in its place,under our love and respect for Christ. We are nothig without Him, and with Him, we are everything. If we love Him, we will obey Him. If we love Him, we will follow Him. Disipline is hard, and its not fun,but a mistake is only a mistake if we do not learn from it, and learn to walk that narrow path. If we choose to ignore discipline of any kind, we must face those consequences, and be responsible to our own actions and not blame others for the stumble we have made. Good comes from discipline, it helps us to grow into who God wants us to be, and through it He molds us, and beautifies His creation in us.
