Christ, the ultimate model

A few nights ago I was thinking about a scenario in my head. I would be having a conversation with someone and they would ask me about discipline and I would say that we don't hit people in our house or hitting is not allowed in our home. That person would have a confused look on their face and then they would ask "Well then what DO you do?". I would tell them about re-direction when they are very little, natural and logical consequence, time-in or comfort corner, etc. I would say that my job is to teach my child how to handle his feelings in appropriate ways and that I want their obedience to come from the heart, not out of fear. And as parents we should model the behavior we want to see. We are trying to model ourselves, and how we discipline after Christ.
This got me thinking. The point of Jesus coming to earth was for Him to model the type of life He wants us to live! Jesus isn't in heaven looking down on us ready to zap us when we do something wrong. We do have to face the natural consequences of our choices, but He doesn't throw in an extra, unrelated punishment for good measure. He is full of grace and His love is not conditional on how we act. Christ is our model as His followers and as parents we are models for our children and their first idea of who God is.
Christ modeled: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-control
These are the things I want to model and teach my child.
No spankings necessary.

Sick

For the past 3 1/2 weeks Isaiah and I have been coughing. We have both seen our doctor and she reassured me that he does not have whooping cough and I just have allergies. Besides having this cold, today for the first time someone made me physically sick because of a conversation they were having.

The conversation was about a 1 year old who is not crawling yet and has 2 doting sisters. For some reason they thought it would be a good idea to start beating (their word, not mine) this baby. And it was ok to leave him on the floor on his belly for 20 minutes while he buried his head in the carpet crying. I cannot for the life of me figure out why a 1 year old baby would need a beating, spanking, or whatever you want to call it, for any reason. We left after the conversation was over. I felt physically ill after and I was trying to hold back tears once I was in the hallway. I can't for the life of me figure out the logic for hitting a baby because they are not crawling yet. And oh yeah, according to one of them, boys are lazy. If I was one of the males in that room I would have been terribly offended.
Phew...Glad I got that out.

Now I can see how God has changed my heart. A few months ago I don't know if I would of had the same reaction.