No discipline seems pleasant...

I love my job at the doctors office. I love that I get to see and interact with new people everyday. I love that I get to offer hope to those that are sick. One of my patients today was a sweet/not-so-sweet 5 yr. old little boy. You could most certainly tell from his appearance and from his smell that he's not very well taken care of at home. This automatically drew me to him. (not the smell, but the helplessness of the child) The doctor wanted to do some breathing tests on him and also some allergy testing. This little boy's mom was a mom that was not in charge of him. Kind of one of those situations where you wonder which is the parent...the Mom or the child?? So I go into the testing with my game face on. Taking no slack from the little boy and being very direct in my instructions to him. Of course, my nature was to play with the little boy and to joke around with him. But I knew this was no time for that. He did an incredible job for me...even the doctor was impressed with how well he did. One of my favorite verses came to mind through this experience today. Hebrews 12:11 "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." I truly don't think the Lord just loves to discipline us. But sometimes, stern direction is necessary for good results. I always get a little nervous when the Lord reminds me of this passage. My mind immediately travels down the road of "oh man...is it about to be a season of pruning for me?" Wether it is not, I love that we serve a God who loves us enough to want to see a harvest of righteousness and peace in our lives.