Judgment gentler than anger
Let me tell you two stories about mothers disciplining their children. You tell me which mother you would have rather had:
Story 1:
This isn’t a first-hand story, but it was told to me by my roommate, who used to live with one of the our pastors. So I knew him a long time, he knew their family a long time.
The pastor’s son was four at the time. Active, intelligent, with his own agenda. You know four year olds like that, don’t you?
He crossed lines fairly often, which must have been frustrated. But his parents didn’t punish him for frustrating them. They only punished him for crossing the line.
His mother was a short, thin woman with a soft voice. My roommate would often hear her speak her son’s name quietly, yet with finality. Then he would hear her in the kitchen preparing to wreak judgment on her son. Her son could hear her too.
She caused her son physical pain. But did she cause emotional pain? Did she violate his dignity? Did she humiliate him or did she appropriately humble him?
What do you think?
Leave a Reply