Learning the Hard Way

This article was first published in December, 1982. As I am now once again raising children, it really touched home as I reread it this morning.

Last week I was visiting a hospital and I heard a doctor giving a nurse serious instructions about a patient. Apparently the doctor had given the same instructions the day before, but the nurse had failed to carry out the procedure because of her feeling of compassion for the young patient.

The little girl had a serious infection complicating her cancer. The treatment the doctor ordered was going to be, at best uncomfortable, probably even painful. But it had to be administered if the infection was to be conquered. The nurse’s compassion had, in effect, been detrimental despite her good intentions. She did not follow the precise instructions of one who had greater knowledge and who really exhibited the most genuine care for the patient.

On the way home from the hospital I was flooded with emotions and the scene kept coming back to me. I wondered if I was guilty of the same sort of well intended yet costly decisions as the nurse in dealing with my children. The Lord has given me directions for raising my children and those directions include sound discipline, even if it is not the most pleasant at the time. I must be responsible in my actions, and not act only on my feelings.

It also occurred to me that I possibly had been too “compassionate” in my ministry at times; too willing to placate my brethren; too willing to tolerate behavior that my God will not tolerate; too ready to appease an alien sinner.

I know my God is loving and patient and comforting. He has been all of that to me. And yet I know that there must occasionally be the administration of “medicine” that is at the moment uncomfortable or painful. I haven’t sorted it all out yet, but I pray for God’s wisdom to be my guide.

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