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I don't know about you, but I had a way of getting myself grounded! The day or the evening started out well enough, with lots of fun, but then, curfew time came and went! It always happened at the best part of the fun that I was having.
I knew what would happen when I got home, and figuring that I was already in trouble, I might as well make it worthwhile, right?
Sure enough, when I got home, my mom and dad (but usually just my mom) were there ready with the questions, and then, the verdict and the punishment: guilty and grounded for two weeks. Once in a blue moon, I would get a spanking. I did respect my dad because he would give me a little talk, including "This is going to hurt me more than you." Then he would give me a choice: "Do you want to stand or bend over my knee?" He would leave me in my room to think about the whole situation and the lesson hopefully learned. In fifteen or twenty minutes, he would call me out and give me a hug, and we never heard about it again.
I never heard the word "forgiven". My mom had a way of reminding me of the wrongs that I had done. I'm not sure how, but she usually knew something about the circumstances before I got home, and then, of course, the questions with the wrong answers only made things worse for me. I never did learn simply to tell the truth because she would know the answers already.
But I am so thankful that I have a heavenly Father Who knows me inside and out and still wants to have a relationship with me. When I say "Yes" to Him, I am forgiven, once and for all.
In the beginning of this new, precious relationship, I heard about being grounded! What? No — grounded in the Word, learning more and more about Jesus.
Ephesians 3:17-19 – So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith — that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (ESV)
2 Timothy 3:14-17 – But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (NIV)
With Christ, I am forgiven; I am His. Being grounded in the Word and in His love, I have the guidance and the written proof of who I am in Christ. I can come to Him when I make a mistake and know that He understands and forgives.
How do we handle those self-serving urges to do whatever or go wherever, regardless of the curfews that the Word gives us? Let us learn from past mistakes and know that we can honestly come to the Father and repent. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we will be able to handle those curfews successfully.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for Your endless mercy! How You deal with us and our continual mistakes is beyond comprehension. You know the end result, and we thank You for Your patience and love as we stumble through life. We are thankful for Your Word that helps us to stay grounded. Help us to be even more grounded. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
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Great words of encouragement, Brenda.
Amen Brenda. Where would we be without our amazing God?
Thank you, Brenda, for this reminder of God’s love and forgiveness.
Your devotionals are always very meaningful. Thank you, Brenda.
(Texas USA)
Oh, Brenda, are you sure we’re not sisters? Maybe our parents talked to each other. I’m grateful that I had the discipline they gave me. Lord knows I must have tried their patience! Thanks for sharing this encouraging devotional with us. Blessings.
Dear Brenda: As the parent of three daughters, I never had the requirement to ‘punish’ my/our girls for late homecomings. Truth is, they usually went out accompanied by other girls. The boy-girl late-dates were never our concern, not even when pre-wedding engagements followed.
The problem was my own but somehow boys are usually excused. I always was. Strange isn’t it? Regardless, thanks so much for your honesty. Your parents obviously had your best interests at heart.
(Ontario, Canada)
Dear Brenda,
Well, you made your choices, and you didn’t complain about the punishment. That is pretty amazing. You respected that your parents were trying to help you make better choices. God is doing that for us by allowing us to admit our mistakes and being totally forgiven so that we can let that go and work on the present and the future.
Thank you for sharing your experiences and relating them to your faith and using scripture to show us the way. I hope you are having great weather in Pico which was another choice that you made in your life.
May many blessings come your way and you continue to share with us so that we grow in our faith also.
Brenda, Your devotional struck me with how loving the punishment was for you under your recall of the word grounded. It was compassionate and short lived and without abuse but a reminder that you misstepped family rules designed to develop both respect and courtesy to your parents.
My experience with grounding was over a month of no social life and mean-spirited reminders of how I inconvenienced or embarrassed my parents by coming in late, at the same time they were gleefully saying good night to neighbours who saw me come home. No drugs, no alcohol but with friends.
So maybe now you might, as an adult, rethink your seeming resentment of this word and see it as family tough love but not violence.
We all rebelled as did my kids who took it further when one ran away to another country and again ran away to another province, or should I say ran away outside territory allowed and with friends — totalled my car.
I recall these painful events along with others where my kids crossed the lines. If I were to bring this up today, they would likely not recall most of these times.
It is hard as a parent to know how to punish or correct a child. Frankly it did not really work did it except you recall this today.
Jesus loves you and life will teach us all that sooner or later we are called upon to be accountable for our choices and will suffer within ourselves for decisions we make.
(Ontario, Canada)
Brenda,
Can I ever relate to being “grounded” at home. And I am eternally grateful that we have our Lord to be grounded and focused on each day. Thank you.