Don't you just hate it when events seem to happen that make you feel terrible? The other day, my husband was fussing. To me it sounded like he was fussing at me. Later he told me that he was mainly upset at himself, but it was something that both of us were doing. I took it so badly! I was stomping around, slamming things around, muttering under my breath. All this took place within the eyes and ears of our children. I was not being the example I should have been. I prayed to be a better example in this area.
So, then, the next day, my children were reading Proverbs chapter 12. My daughter was laughing so I was fussing at her for not reading. She told me she was reading, but that something in the first verse was funny. Here's what she read:
"Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid." (Proverbs 12:1 - ESV)
She was reading it in the NKJV, but it reads about the same. She, of course, was laughing over the word 'stupid.' I talked to her about what it meant and it has become a great teaching tool. But my heart hurt while I was talking to her, because it was talking about me. I was being stupid. I was not learning from my mistakes when someone pointed it out to me. Instead, I was muttering and grumbling and pointing the finger at what he had done.
I pray that you learn from my mistake and accept with grace and dignity when you are corrected. Be a better example than I was in this case.
"For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." (Hebrews 12:11)
Simply a Christian. "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ." (1 Corinthians 11:1) "Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing." (1 Thessalonians 5:11)