Warm and Strict

 



Sometimes what may seem like opposites aren't. 


Like being warm and being strict. 


Doug Lamov does a great job of explaining that not only do we sometimes need to be strict and sometimes need to be warm, but we frequently need to do them at the same time. 


It's not that we love someone and we also need them to have consequences.  It's that they need to have consequences BECAUSE we love them and we desire for them to learn and grow and progress. 


This is true of our role as teachers, parents, managers, and many more.  


One way that we can express that caring love is by explaining the why. 


For instance, I had a student who was talking and giggling to her friend during class.  I reminded them once and then quickly told them that I knew they were really good friends and cared about each other, but that we would find another time for them to spend time together.  Right now I needed them to move to their tables so that everyone could hear the lesson and they could do their best learning.  They quickly moved to their seats and then at the start of recess I made a partner switch later when they could work on a task together.  


I was firm but loving. 


By acknowledging what their desire was I showed them I valued them and their wants and needs.  But I still held them to the class rule. 


You know who else is like that?


Our Heavenly Father! 


He has laws with blessings predicated upon those laws.  


D&C 130:20-21-

"There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—

And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated."


Not because he is mean or heartless.


But because he loves us enough to help us see and learn the natural blessings that come about when we live according to His Plan of Happiness.


Repentance isn't a punishment, it's a means and process of change that we should be so very, very grateful for!! 



From a Father who honors justice fully, and loves us way too much to let us flounder alone.  But also who grants us our agency, and allows us to choose our path.  


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