"Discipline"

The other day I was in our local grocery store and a little boy wanted his momma to buy him something because a favorite cartoon character was on the box. It was obvious that the woman didn't have the money to get everything she needed, much less "Johnny's" item. She said "no" and tried to go on about her business. Little Johnny wasn't going to give up so easily. He began the begging routine, trying to wear her down. When that didn't bring about the desired result, little Johnny began doing the fit throwing thing. The little lady didn't have a clue I was inwardly hoping she'd put her foot down and take control, instead of allowing the kid to rule the roost. (I'm sure I wasn't the only one in the store feeling that way.) But no, she gave in, and rewarded "Johnny" for his unacceptable behavior....reinforcing his belief that if he just gets loud enough and angry enough and obnoxious enough....he will always get what he wants in life. What a wonderful man he'll turn out to be.

We in America seem to think that without any discipline whatsoever, we can become what we want to be, our children will turn out wonderful, our horses will automatically handle like we want them to, and our nation will always be strong! NOT! Discipline has gotten such an ugly name in our society that we equate it with a lack of love. Try and correct a child at school, and the teacher has to fight the entire system AND the parents, PLUS be willing to look like Attila the Hun in the process! I saw the news a while back, where a bus driver was containing an unruly boy through force, and they're filing charges against him. They should give the guy a medal! I remember when I rode the bus (back when there were dinosaurs), one teenage boy was causing all sorts of trouble, our bus driver threw him off the bus and left him about 10 miles out of town. We cheered! He later allowed that young man to ride the bus again, after he sincerely apologized to the bus driver in front of us all. There was peace after that, and furthermore, no one dared challenge his authority again!

Nothing good comes into being without discipline. SOMEBODY paid a price to be good at what they do, or who they have become. Leave discipline out, and sooner or later, whatever it is, it erodes into total chaos and disorder. Whether it's a home, church, school, a business.....or a nation; without discipline, the quality of life quickly deteriorates. We in America have gotten consumed with protecting the "rights" and "feelings" of the lawless and unruly, to the point that it's insane! No wonder when God moves on someone's heart to clean up their lives, they rationalize that it can't be the voice of God because, "God wants me happy" and He wouldn't require me to do something hard! Discipline. Do we have the guts for it? For the sake of freedom and future generations, we had better embrace it again in our society, our homes, schools and our churches......or I can promise......it will certainly get uglier!