Proverbs - Correction and Rest

Proverbs 29:17

Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.

Sometimes we feel we need rest so we don’t correct our children.  They will give us rest as we choose to correct them.  It takes a lot of effort up front but in the long run it will give us the rest we need.  The little things we train them in now will protect them from the big mistakes they could make later.  It is like weeding a garden before the weeds take deep root.  Sure, it takes a consistent effort to go out daily and remove the little weeds but we won’t have such a strenuous job later.  The motivation of having rest and having our children give delight to our soul can be the right one in order to correct them.  Note that the word ‘correct’ is used and not ‘punishment’. We ought to remember that the rest and delight from correcting the behavior using the rod and reproof.