I think one challenge I've been considering as a father, Paul says in Colossians 3.21, fathers do not provoke your children. And this is similar to what he says in Ephesians chapter six. But he says something different in Colossians 3.21 as he finishes that verse. He says, lest they become discouraged. And as fathers, we can discourage our children.

The idea there is we cause them, through some of our actions, to lose heart or to even lose motivation. And this can seem a bit backwards, because we understand children need discipline. Children need something to keep them foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child and so there's a corrective and a directive discipline that is needed. But as fathers I think we have to be careful not to keep pushing and pushing and pushing, so as to become harsh, so as to become a means by which our children become discouraged. And I realize we can recoil in the fear of, well, what about, wouldn't this be permissiveness?

Wouldn't this just allow our children to go on down some sinful pattern? And no, just as God did not allow us to just go on, He brings correction, but there's a great love in how God does that. And as fathers we need to realize how easily it is to crush our children. Yes our boys but I think especially our daughters and how we're leading and nurturing them and fostering each one of them and so uniquely between each child.