Growing Pains Proverbs 3:11,12

You know you can learn a lot about being a child of God by watching a small child. And you can learn a lot about the Father’s love for His children by watching them. I am recently a grandmother for the fifth time.  He’s seven months old and raring to go!  But I see in him already the desire to do things “his way”. You say too young?  No way!  Like when he cries until he’s beet red and it turns out he just wanted you to pick him up. His red face and tears disappear with a big smile when I lift him out of his crib!  Or when he demands my attention because he’s bored. But I also see the love in his eyes for me when I hold him in my arms and he senses how much I love him! Or the way he is comforted by my nearness when he’s going to sleep and I lay beside him and talk softly and stroke his brow. As he grows, the discipline will be according to his age and understanding.  It reminds me that as a child of God, what I do can please Him, or anger Him or break His heart!  When I want things “my way” He chastens me and I must not despair when He disciplines me. Just as a loving parent disciplines a child for their own good, how much more my Heavenly Father when I go astray!  And I am amazed at the lengths He will go to in bringing me back to Himself! His discipline is always tempered by mercy and how far along I am in my walk with Him.   It is there I need the reassurance of His comforting voice and a sense of His loving arms around me.  I know how much I love my grandson.  How much more does my Heavenly Father love me?