Getting Punished as a Kid in the 80s
I grew up in a time that us Gen Xers know well – there was physical punishment when we did things wrong as a kid. It wasn’t all the time, but we had the fear of that coming if we really screwed up. That was in my family, but there was a pretty big twist to it.
My father was usually the one who had to do this, and even though he didn’t want to, he knew the benefits would be that my brother and I would grow up to be fine, young men. But, afterward, my dad would go into his room shut the door and cry. It hurt him to punish us boys. It hurt him a lot. Once we realized this happened, I think we really shaped up because we didn’t want to cause our dad this kind of pain.
Think of the best parent out there you know – like, the best on earth. Guess what? God is a million times better. If my dad went and cried after punishing us, I know God does the same. His goal is to get us to be the best we can, no matter what it takes. That is his, great love.