Loving Through Discipline: A Mother’s Reflection on God’s Love
The time I made my son hold his arms out
Before I get into what God revealed to me in this lesson, let me give you a little backstory for context. I didn’t grow up getting a lot of “pow-pows, whoopings, spankings, etc, ” whatever you know them to be. My mother didn’t feel the need to always put her hands on us as a form of discipline. She’d take away stuff, ground us to our room, extra chores, etc., pretty much mental stuff lol that we’d practically beg for a whooping to get it over with and be done with it. Holding our arms out was one of them. We have so many funny stories behind that arm pain and techniques to help relieve the discomfort. Memories that were documented Polaroid-style : )
Picture this: My son (4.5 years old) is holding his arms out for being sneaky and dishonest about watching TV in his room (no YouTube). He locks himself in his room, and you know as a mother when it’s too quiet, something is up.. So I made him hold his arms out. He goes on crying after only about 30 seconds, saying things like “I don’t love him anymore, he doesn’t love me, and that he doesn’t love Judah (our dog). I stopped him from saying stuff he doesn’t mean.
Revelation:
Isn’t that just like us, when things get tough, get a little uncomfortable, painful even, we start questioning God’s love for us? God, if you loved me… why would…? Why are you letting this happen?… This hurts! RIGHT!
God gives us what we need, not what we want! As a growing boy, he needs discipline. He needs structure; he’s beginning to learn about character building, honesty, and integrity.
God knows and sees all. All-encompassing God. God is at the beginning and the end. He knows the discipline and structure we need to nudge us in the right direction in becoming our future selves.
You see, I wasn’t being “mean” or unloving towards my son for not letting him watch YouTube, but I was and am protecting him from things on there that he doesn’t know about.
God is protecting us from the unknown things, and sometimes He’s protecting you from…you!
All while teaching you, molding you, building character, and strengthening you.
I’ll leave you with this: Find the lesson in the message, Find the wisdom in the test..
