When you first hold your sweet baby, it’s hard to imagine there might come a day when the sweet sound of her cry will morph into a blood-curdling scream that can be heard by everyone in at least 8 aisles at the supermarket, but just wait. It will.
It’s amazing how quickly it happens, too. One day, your precious child is toddling around without a care in the world. The next, he is stamping his foot and saying that all-powerful word: No!
If you ever needed proof that human nature is sinful, just consider how quickly a two year old will tell a lie.
As parents, we are responsible for training our children to do what’s right. And, y’all, we’re working against their natural inclinations.
It’s not surprising, really, We’re working against our own, too. I tried to remember that when I had to carry not one, but two, tantrum-throwing twins out of a recent homeschool group gathering. Our kids aren’t the only ones who find discipline difficult.
I fight it every bit as hard as they do some days.
Because discipline isn’t pleasant. Ask my sister on mile 23 of any marathon.
It’s painful, but it’s productive.
For both of us. I don’t know about you, but I don’t especially enjoy disciplining my children. It would be easier to ignore them and let bad behavior go unchecked.
Today.
But discipline isn’t about today.
We’re in this for the long haul.
Thankfully, that’s how harvests happen.
I’m not much of a gardener, but I do understand that I can’t plant something today and eat it tomorrow. Harvests don’t happen overnight.
But they do happen.
Because….
“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:11)