In the Corner

Before I move on I first must tell you all something... I HAVE A NIECE!! She was born yesterday and I hold her as we speak (aka as I type). She is fabulous and I cant wait to have many adventures with her and learn things from her. I love her a lot and could talk about her all day so I will cut myself off... for now.

Alright so kind of on the topic of children... I was once a child. (Captain Obvious to the rescue) And as I reflect on my childhood today I have concluded that my parents never really punished me. I shall explain that a bit more.

     I was one of those perfect child that rarely got in trouble… I’m serious. Sort of. It just never occurred to me to disobey them or rebel against them. My mother will even tell you herself that she can't remember many times that I was ever in trouble. It should also be noted that my older sister was a bit of a trouble maker so after her I was the super sweet child. *angel smile* 

     As I have three siblings sometimes all four of us would get punished as a result of collateral damage, like say all of us being grounded from TV so that no one could watch it, but I don't recall the grounding ever lasting too long. My parents may have their own explanation but from my perspective I think they never kept us grounded for very long because they liked hanging out with us. Can't blame them, usually funny parents end up with funny and entertaining kids.

    

So my thought for today is if, as a child, I were constantly punishing and disciplining myself for my parents would they not think this odd? Especially for an action that has long since past and already been punished for? What normal child would do that?

"No mommy, I was bad four months ago, I'm going to bed without any dessert." 

"No daddy, I can't watch cartoons with you, I scribbled on the wall with permanent marker three years ago."

"No sisters, I can't play Barbies, I have to sit in the corner because I cut off all my hair with dull scissors last year."

That doesn't make any sense. So why do we, as adults, sometimes do this? Punish ourselves and keep ourselves in pain and sit in a corner even though we don't need to? I think many times it comes down to self-forgiveness. Perhaps you've found yourself in a situation where you were greatly hurt. Although many go through the very uneasy process of forgiving the other person or people involved, many forget to look inwardly. Self-forgiveness is one of the most difficult things to do but let me tell you this:

Get out of the corner, take the soap out of your mouth, and stop going to bed early! 

If you've asked for forgiveness from those required of you, resolved the situation and made things right with God... why are you still sitting in a corner staring at a wall?

"I am not going to hangout with any of my friends and have fun because I've hurt too many people in the past, I should not be trusted anymore."

"I can't face my family ever again because I disgraced the family name five years ago."

"God, I can't let you love me right now, I've done too many things wrong."

Get out of the corner.

God just wants to love you. He's not punishing you, you are punishing you because you haven't forgiven yourself. You have friends, family and especially God that just want to hangout with you! Punishing yourself on a daily basis for the same action doesn't make sense. Example: My nephew would be none too happy to wake up tomorrow and find out he had to go back into time out again for something he was already punished for today. And if that kept happening on a daily basis eventually the comment "But I was already put in time out for that" would come up. I had to look at myself and my life like this. Was I avoiding happiness or avoiding letting good things happen to me because I thought I should still be punished? Heck yes I was. This was a tough realization, but learning to forgive yourself gives you the freedom to live without constant punishment again.

Friends, are you sitting in a corner on a little plastic chair?