Give Me Vinegar!

How many ladies out there love the taste of vinegar? Well, I am not one of them. To me vinegar is bitter and yucky and oh the face to be made when taking a swig of it. Do you know that there is a website that shows 1001 ways to use vinegar? It can be used for cooking, gardening, cleaning, automotive, laundry, health and pets, but I have a use that wasn’t listed on the site. Are you ready for it, taming the sassy tongue of a child. Raising three boys, needless to say has been an amazing adventure one I would do over and over again, minus a few things. J  One of the wonder years is when your child develops a mind of his or her own and chooses to express it verbally, which my granny would define as old fashion sassing.

 For the middle son Trenton, sassing days began at almost 8 and was it ever so prevalent in the mornings.  I don’t know if you have had a child that is difficult to discipline, for example, Nothing Works, so what do you do? You break out the vinegar. I was fortunate enough that this sassing son of mine also shared my taste on vinegar, he hated it. So every morning, when that sassing mouth began to show its ugly head I would simply pour vinegar in a small glass and make him take a drink. Yes, ladies it worked, amazingly well.  Excited about my new disciplining technique I felt I was a conqueror of the sassing mouth.  I owned the title and wore the belt for it. 

Isn’t it amazing how our children, although we think they never pay attention to what’s going on, really are paying attention? My youngest little hero, Cole, was taking it all in and like most he wanted to do everything his big brother did including tasting the nasty vinegar. I remember him so clearly saying, “Mommy let me try it.”  To him not so bad, he liked the taste of vinegar, go figure. One day momma’s little hero got in trouble and as I was headed to him, eyes bulging and momma horns starting to grow out of my skull he said, “Just Give Me Vinegar Mommy,  Just Give Me Vinegar.” 

I thought a lot about what he said and then I thought we, as Christians, are just like that. When God is about to disciplines us, well for me anyway, it is like drinking vinegar. It’s bitter, nasty and hard to swallow. I have found myself like my little hero asking God for a much tastier less hard to swallow way out.

We discipline our children to teach them, grow them, set their boundaries and most of all because we love them and He disciplines us because we are His.

(NIV )Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

We as parents have plans for our children, plans for them to succeed, plans to teach them morals, plans to better them, plans to make them strong, plans for them to become what we envision.  God has His own plans for us. He wants to refine us, mold us, and make us into a vessel that He can flow through, a vessel that He can use to bring others to Him.

Hebrews 12:6 says,

For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Deuteronomy 8:5 says,

Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.

While God’s discipline is never sweet tasting going down it is served with His divine hands of love. Discipline is like medicine it doesn’t taste good but it makes you better, especially when it’s God with the spoon in His hand.

Ladies we are amazing, because we have an amazing Father that loves us enough to discipline us because of the plans He has for us. Come on girls lets open wide and gulp it down. We owe Him let’s give Him our best.