Daily Devotional for September 14, 2022

Tara is the director for our Mother’s Day Out program.  She is wonderful.  Because of Tara and her teachers, our MDO program is a huge success.
 
Now that the new school year has started, many of the children in the MDO program come to visit me when their parents pick them up at the end of the day.  That’s because I have candy – lots of it.  
 
In addition to two tons of candy, I also have huge drawers in my office filled with toys.  So as the parents and I visit, the children play with the toys.  The most popular toys are the trucks.
 
Yesterday, Tara brought her three-year-old son, Conway over for a visit.  He was a man on a mission and headed straight to the drawers with toys.  One by one, he pulled all the trucks out of the drawers and put them on the counter and the large conference table in my office.
 
After Tara, Melissa, and I solved all the problems of the world, it was time for Conway to get candy.  This was the moment where Conway and his mother had a disagreement about what it meant to put the toys away.
 
Conway believed one toy should remain on the conference table.  His mother did not.
 
Tara said, “Maybe Pastor Tom doesn’t want the toy to stay on the table.”
 
I was horrified.
 
And while I would never interfere with a parent in the middle of parenting, I had to intervene.  I said, “No, No, No!  I am never the bad guy.  That’s the parent’s job.  I intend for all the children to always love me.”  
 
You see, Shannon and I have raised our daughters.  We have the t-shirts, scars, and tattoos to prove it.  Now we get to be grandparents, which is God’s reward to parents for not killing their children when they were teenagers.
 
I am past disciplining my children and I am not about to discipline someone else’s.  That’s the parent’s job and good parents do their job.
 
One of the ways we understand our wonderful God is as a parent.  As parent, there are times when God has to discipline his children.
 
The wisest of all people said, “My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.”  (Proverbs 3:11-12)
 
Because Tara loves her son, she will correct and discipline him.  She’s his parent.
 
Because God loves you, he will correct and discipline you.  He’s your parent.
 
Prayer:  Dear Gracious Heavenly God, thank you for making me your child.  Please correct me when I am wrong.  Help me walk your narrow path.  In Jesus’ name I pray.  Amen.
 
Parenting isn’t easy for Tara because Conway is a strong-willed guy.  She will do it anyways because she loves him.
 
Parenting isn’t easy for God because we are idiots.  God will do it anyways because he loves us.
 
That’s a good thing.
 
Also, just for the record, now that I’ve had a few minutes to think about it.  The Mother’s Day Out program is a huge success because of me. I hired Tara.
 
One more thing.  For those attending tonight’s Bible study, due to the large number of people attending, we are moving it to the Praise and Worship Center in Grobowsky Hall.  For those attending online, please use the same Zoom code as last week.  The process on Zoom will be a little different because you will have to type your question which will be relayed to me.
 
The code is https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89181574695?pwd=d3hEd01qZTF4VU9vQkE5STkzRFpJUT09
 
In person or online, I will be blessed by your presence.  
 
I pray your day is filled with joy and laughter.
Tom Robbins