Love can be spelled more than one way

My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline
    or be weary of His reproof,
for the Lord reproves him whom He loves,
    as a father the son in whom he delights. Proverbs 3:11-12

Sigh. Sometimes I do get weary. Because mostly His reproofs come from caring or sometimes not-so-caring bystanders. And I try so hard. And well, I don’t do such a great job all of the time. And really, my little evaluator sensor is pretty much set at high alert all the time, and I trip through life, “Oops. Biffed that one again.”

And at this time of the school year I really want to lower my head and plow through to the finish line, not even glancing over at the sidelines and plugging my ears with both hands, “I can’t hear you; I can’t hear you.”

But sometimes I most certainly need those folks who push through the social awkwardness, put their arm around me, and gently say, “Hey, Christy, I was wondering if you ever thought of this…”

Or even the ones that send abrupt memos. Or inadvertently overheard conversations about something screwed up. Or new policy being presented at staff meetings that directly delineates one more line I tripped over.

Sometimes people are just flat out mean, well, let’s say careless in their correction, and that’s okay, really. Because of the Big Picture. This is all from His hand.

This is part of His great love. The point. That I might grow into being all that He created me to be, to step into the purposes He laid out before the beginning of time.

And that is something in which I can rejoice.