“Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.” (Proverbs 12:1)

A few weeks ago I was at work carrying a black duffle bag on my shoulder. We wear our uniforms (“cammies” as we call them), so there are certain rules and regulations with what can and cannot be worn with the uniform. To keep good order and discipline, Marines will correct other Marines when they are not abiding by these regulations.

So I am walking down the hall and my MSgt stops me. “Hey Wiatrowski, do you know the regulations for bags that you can carry?” I looked at him surprised. “Not exactly MSgt, but the last time I wore a black backpack I was told it was not allowed.” “Really”, he said “that’s interesting. Do me a favor- go and look it up and come back to me in 20 minutes and tell me what it is”.

Now at this point I knew I was in the wrong. But I was confused because other Marines were doing it, so why couldn’t I? I looked up the uniform order for bags we could carry and come to find out, we can only carry black backpacks, not duffle bags. I reported back to him and he graciously smiled and carried on with his day.

When I read the verse above, this memory came to mind. I don’t enjoy discipline, but I realized this past week that the outcome of discipline is knowledge. If there were no correction, there would be nothing learned. Discipline isn’t intended to embarrass or insult me like I thought. It is intended to teach me, often times lessons much deeper than the surface level.

I pray we all have hearts softened to discipline, that strive for knowledge and insight.