Shade Tree Wisdom 8/24/10

The walk was just delightful this morning because of a slight breeze, this in spite of the heat yesterday. Have you noticed too how the TV weather people seem to delight in reporting a new record for heat and humidity? And the ‘heat index’ to top it all off.

Well, let them have their hour. Let’s go on to what came to mind now. We once lived in Mexico, Missouri. The place listed itself as the ‘saddle horse and fire brick capital of the world’. Quite a pretentious title, but they did live up to it. So the county fair featured horses. I remember always being impressed by the dressage events. We had the good fortune to have a friend offer us seats in his front row box, but he did stipulate that I wear a tie and jacket. “Wear coat and tie to a county fair”? I asked. It was required, he said. So I did. (How many of you have ever gone to a county fair wearing a coat and tie?) But I digress.

Dressage is a kind of riding that is judged by the way a horse performs in showing its training. That training is rigorous, and a finished product has the horse and rider performing the required steps with only gentle knee pressure to guide the horse, and it is a delight to watch. Requirements are strict, and the closer they are met, the better the final score. (And riders wear top hats, snazzy.)

It reminds me of a truth. The farther we drift from the prescribed way, the deeper the trouble we get into. You know the joke, the husband and wife are driving somewhere, and they are lost, simply because he “knows the way” and does not need a map, and so really gets himself lost. The result is anger, quarreling, and trying to explain to friends when they finally arrive. I know, GPS, get one and use it.

Here is a truth. Leave the WORD of God to follow advice of the world, and go wrong. It is always so.

I am thinking of discipline. When this subject is discussed and someone asks “Did you spank your child?” there is always a flurry of, “studies show this. . .’ or “The experts agree. . .” The final expert, the Lord God, said this in Proverbs chapter 3, 11-12. “My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of His correction. For whom the Lord loves, He corrects even as a father a son in whom he delights.” Look at what it says, correcting comes from a loving father to a son he delights in.

The Book of Hebrews speaks of this subject also and says baldly, “If you are not being disciplined, then you are not sons.” For he writes that discipline is “for our profit.” Heb. 12,8.10.

The truth remains constant, “Train up a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22,6. That remains true. And the further truth is that children need and want guidance, direction, help. After all, remember they are new to this world, help them find the right way. God bless this effort.

GPD 8/24/10