Blessed By Admonishment

Each year the Merriam-Webster online dictionary chooses a word of the year based on which word in the dictionary people looked up. They just announced the word of the year for 2009 which is the word admonish. Admonish means to “to indicate duties or obligations or to express warning or disapproval to especially in a gentle, earnest, or solicitous manner.”

This was interesting to me because the word appears seven times in the scriptures. Usually it is used to tell us that the Lord will admonish us, but it is also used to tell us to admonish one another. I’ve experienced both. I’ve had parents, teachers, leaders, and friends who loved me enough to admonish me when I needed it. And just last Sunday I felt the gentle disapproval of the Spirit admonishing me for a wrong attitude.

I’m grateful that my Father in Heaven loves me enough to admonish me—to put me back on track when I go astray. I’m also grateful for the gentle, loving way He does it. It is amazing to me how He can reprove me and at the same time make me feel so loved. It is one more testimony to me that He is God and is all powerful.