Read Proverbs 3:11&12  Wow!  These are two difficult verses.  How many of you like spankings?  Well, I don't either.  Although it's been a looooooooong time since I have had one, I still remember the stinging of it!  The word correction that is used here could also mean a time out, or a talking to, or just a serious look from your parent.  Verse 11 says two things about correction.  First it says that we shouldn't despise chastening.  Despise is a pretty strong word.  It is almost as strong as the word hate.  When your mother corrects you, does it make you mad?  Does it bother you?  Do you wish that you didn't have to be made to feel like a little baby being told what to do all the time?  And then secondly, verse 11 says not to be weary of correction.  Do you get tired of being told over and over again not to do something?  Do you get weary of being told what to do?  Well verse 11 says not to despise chastening nor to be weary of correction.  Then verse 12 tells us why we should not despise or be weary of correction.  Correction is actually proof that our parents love us!  You see, your mother and father only correct their own children.  If you are playing at a party and you and another kid get into a fight, does your father correct the other child?  No.  He corrects you because you are his child.  Actually, your mother and father correct you because you belong to them.  God gave you to them.  They love you and want you to turn out right when you grow up.  Actually, if they didn't care about you, they wouldn't even bother to correct you.  They would let you grow up any way that you wanted to.  If your parents didn't care about you they would let you sleep in late and miss school and never clean up your room.  If they didn't love you they would let you grow up lazy and messy and dumb.  But they do care about you.  Verse 12 reminds us that those people whom the Lord loves, He chastens.  He corrects those children whom He cares about.  So when you are corrected at home by your parents, or when you are corrected by God, just realize that you are loved and cared about.  When God makes you feel bad about being naughty, remember that He loves you and He is correcting you in love.  And when you parents correct you, they care about you and want you to grow up to be a fine young man or young woman.  Some day you may have your own little boy or little girl.  Then you will understand correction and love.