Take those same size proportions and now apply them to his kindness. I can proudly say that my dad is one of the sweetest, most gentle men that I know. If you took a poll of 100 people that know him, I guarantee you they all would say the same.
So when it came to disciplining us, he was not the most stern parent to say the least. There were more then several times that my horrible teenage mouth and attitude deserved an old fashioned "whooping" or at least, a stern grabbing of the shoulders with a "hush your mouth or else" look. That never happened, ever.
As we got older, I have discussed this with my parents. When I ask him why he never disciplined us, he just says "I don't know". My mom, however, attributes it to a couple of things. One of them being that he never wanted to take the chance that he would hurt us. So my dad chose to contain his strength, even at the expense of it looking like weakness, because he valued our safety and our relationship more.
Thinking of this made me evaluate myself in situations where I have the opportunity to show grace, love, kindness or forgiveness, at the risk of being perceived as weak.
For example, when someone is riding my bumper in traffic because they want me to either go faster or move, do I move to a different lane and allow them to pass or do I slow down and box them in between me and the car next to us?
When in group meetings or discussions where I am the more experienced or knowledgeable one, do I rush to give opinions and answers, or do I allow others the opportunity to share?
When someone is being rude to me, do I make it a point to be ruder, louder, and more hurtful? Or do I stay calm and even apologize for anything that I could have done to make them respond to me that way?
During my self evaluation, I realized that I often choose to take the position of power and not humility. Of wanting to present myself as knowledgeable more than nice. Or superior rather than supportive.
So today, my challenge to you and to me, is to model ourselves, not necessarily after my dad, but our Dad. Jesus.
Philippians 2:5-6 encourages us to "have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus who although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bond servant, and being made in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."
