Care enough to confront! It’s not easy being a parent who loves enough to confront us and help mold us and shape us into gracious human beings who will give instead of take in this world, but it is necessary. God gave the example. As God, the Father, he disciplines (sets boundaries) for us as His kids so that, through this training, we may grow and mature in His love.

Hebrews 12, The Message
4-11 In this all-out match against sin, others have suffered far worse than you, to say nothing of what Jesus went through—all that bloodshed! So don’t feel sorry for yourselves. Or have you forgotten how good parents treat children, and that God regards you as his children?

My dear child, don’t shrug off God’s discipline,
but don’t be crushed by it either.
It’s the child he loves that he disciplines;
the child he embraces, he also corrects.

God is educating you; that’s why you must never drop out. He’s treating you as dear children. This trouble you’re in isn’t punishment; it’s training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God’s training so we can truly live? While we were children, our parents did what seemed best to them. But God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God’s holy best. At the time, discipline isn’t much fun. It always feels like it’s going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off handsomely, for it’s the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God.

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for caring enough to confront us, to discipline us, so that we mature in our faith, love others like you love us and be all that You created us to be. Continue, but be gentle. I love you back with all my heart, mind and soul.
In Jesus Name, Amen