Well, ironically, (providentially is more like it) I finish blogging and walk out when S brings it up again. She tells the story she read in NGJ about a screaming child in the car. After being disciplined, they note that he seems joyful. She wonders about it. I told her that when they were little they were the same. After being disciplined they were always more loving and light spirited. Not immediately of course, I tell her. No one likes being disciplined in the moment. But after awhile they were very joyful.
"Why?" she asks. I tell her it is because the Word of God says that those who love their children, discipline them. Somewhere in a child's spirit they recognize and receive that discipline as love. Because if you believe scripture, that is what it is. Children need to feel the walls of discipline. It makes their world orderly and safe. But, sometimes they have to bump into them.
The walls of discipline are the arms of a parent.
They hug a child protectively when they are young. And the walls expand and allow a child more and more room to grow as they gain age and experience and self discipline. Eventually the arms are wide open and the child is free from the walls of protection but resting gently and safely in the arms of much bigger parent. God.
By this time, they have learned to listen to and obey the protective voice of the Lord.
Their new "walls" don't hold them in but UP.
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