Discipline

Discipline

If you refuse to discipline your children, it proves you don’t love them; if you love your children, you will be prompt to discipline them.

Proverbs 13:24

When my husband had a business appointment in Northern England, we took a train from London up to Carlisle. Knowing that we both had reading and paperwork to do, we chose to sit in car F, which was labeled the “quiet car.” Ironically, several people in the quiet car were talking on cell phones or carrying on animated conversations. To add to the confusion, the conductor announced over the loudspeaker that the reservation system wasn’t working properly, so there were no longer any reserved seats. He suggested that people boarding the train choose any available seat. That worked until we got to Birmingham.

At the Birmingham stop, a woman with a young child boarded, and—insisting that she was entitled to her reserved seats—made a big scene by uprooting the two people already sitting there. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the woman and child made noise for the rest of the trip. By the end of the train ride, my blood pressure was up a few notches. I resented that the conductors had not exercised proper control. It didn’t seem fair that people could get away with being noisy in the quiet car, or that the woman with the child could uproot two other people. The rules had not been enforced. Where was the person in charge? I wondered.

Thankfully, that was only a train ride. But discipline in our homes has much larger repercussions, not only for the person breaking the rules, but also for bystanders. If one child in a family is allowed to break the rules, the other children are silently (or not so silently) asking, “Who’s in charge here?” Responsible parents are willing to exercise discipline (control, orderliness, and regulation) for the sake of everyone involved. As a result, everyone in the situation feels better loved and cared for.

Wise Father,

Thank you that you have left us so many sound principles of wisdom in the Bible. Please help us to apply them. In Jesus’ name, amen.