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My daughter came home the other night sad.

She recently got in the production of SOUND OF MUSIC at Resorts World Manila.  We prayed for it.  We believed God for it.  And God answered our prayers.

Press conferences have begun and she was chosen for the first one.

But for the one coming up this Saturday, someone else was chosen to be there.

She felt so sad. (Which is a huge understatement.)

But rescuing our kids from pain and disappointment can be the quickest response from any parent.

We can…

• Be a scary stage parent and make a case to include her.
• Sulk with her in a corner
• Or see this as an opportunity to grow in character.

We made a choice to pick the 3rd option.

First, God knows what He’s doing.

Second, the production team knows what they’re doing.

Allowing our kids to go through disappointments in life will make them stronger.  It will build certain muscles that will be beneficial for them later on in life.

Remember, helping may not really be helpful always after all.

When Ryan was 5 years old, he attempted to disobey his mom (definitely not the first time).

Jenn said, “Ryan, if you disobey me you might not like the consequence I’ll give you.” (Implying that he might get a spanking…)

To this, Ryan quipped, “Mom, if you think I won’t like it, why give it to me?
Let’s just change the consequence.”

Whattakid!

I guess that’s how we respond to God’s discipline at times.  We know how unlikable the consequence will be but we still choose to do it and hope that God  changes the consequences of our disobedience.

Funny story but there’s a lot of truth that can be learned in real life.

“Blessed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.  For He wounds, but He also binds up; He injures, but His hands also heal.” (Job 5:17-18)

We’ve always tried to encourage our kids (to the point of nagging, unfortunately) to prepare their stuff the night before so that the next morning, they won’t get stressed preparing for school… especially because it’s early in the morning.

This morning, as I drove my kids to school, right when we pulled up at the school’s driveway, one them told me that a math book was forgotten and left at home.  The easiest thing to do is to be a super daddy, come to rescue by going home and bringing it to school.  Or… why not have our driver get it and pick it up.  That’s why we got one for emergencies like these, right?  Not really.

Well, my child might get a zero for this homework but I believe that would be one of the biggest lessons our children can learn.  I know you might be thinking, “what a monster dad!”  But learning consequences is one of the biggest lessons we can teach our children.  We cannot always rescue because that’s not how life works often enough.

There were times I’ve driven home to get something and bring it to school to illustrate grace and relate it with the grace of God in our lives.  But that’s few and far in between.

Teaching responsibility and realizing the consequences of being the opposite is a great lesson to learn early in life.

A man who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful. But if he confesses and forsakes them, he gets another chance. Blessed is the man who reveres God, but the man who doesn’t care is headed for serious trouble. Proverbs 28: 13-14