I have been musing over the discussion Yvette and I briefly had on a recent podcast about how stories are unthreatening and get under the defences.

Those of us who are parents know how incredibly argumentative and resistant our children can be when we try to correct their behaviour or habits. When we point out the mistake and try to give them counsel there can be such a tirade of excuses and reasoning produced from incredibly canny little sin-bent minds that we can often find ourselves overwhelmed or exhausted by their outstanding oratorial brilliance. We might even have thoughts about how we seem to be raising budding lawyers!

One thing I have noticed though - every time I do it - is when I slow down, and when I don’t rush in to discipline with anger or emotion, if I take a prayerful quiet moment (which is mostly possible actually!), I can come up with a Bible story or a home made story that can adequately address the situation needing discipline. When I then tell that story the ‘embedded truth’ seems to sneak up on the kids and strike home, and it leaves them (mostly) without excuse and receptive to my correction in quite a refreshingly beautiful way. We know how kids love stories ... And, told without manipulation, they will always love them.

Now I recognise that we do not tell stories every time we discipline, and sometimes the fact that we are made bigger than our kids means we need to block them from certain death and danger (where a story would be plainly inappropriate and foolish!), but, you know, most of the time an inspired story on the fly, or a story shared sometime later, that shows why you acted the way you did with them to correct, discipline or otherwise train them in righteousness, is one amazing way to get through to our budding lawyers who must learn (unlike many of their worldly counterparts) that truth, righteousness, mercy and justice are more important than having the best argument.