Our family has started setting aside Sundays as family fun days. We go to worship services at our church on Saturday afternoons, so we can choose what to do on our day of rest. This is the first time in our marriage that we have not had Sunday morning duties – either preaching, teaching or simply serving the body.
Today’s fun ended, however, when our eldest decided to be stubborn and disobey mommy and daddy. Now that she is 3, some of the previous means of discipline have lost their effectiveness, so we decided to remove a privilege. Because she wasn’t obedient, she would not be able to go to the pool.
While the house is quiet now (my wife and other daughter are happily at the pool), I’m reminded of how amazing our Father in heaven is. And, I wonder, how often he removes a privilege from us while he disciplines us.
I know in my own life, there have been many things that I didn’t quite get – much worse than a 3 year old. And, now, it makes me wonder what I’ve missed out on. What privilege did I not get to do while my father was shaping me and forming me into something better?
Discipline is hard – especially for parents in this world. But, our Father in heaven does it all the time with the best intentions and most amazing compassion. I hope my wife and I learn just a little bit of how he parents us in our daily parenting of our kids.
And, I’m going to spend a little more time today reflecting on the times that I, myself, disobeyed the Father and lost out on something – maybe I’ll also discover I actually learned some valuable lessons. And, I’ll pray that our daughter learns her lessons, too – without to many privileges lost.
