When I was a boy my mother used to send me out doors to get a birch
stick to whip me with, when I had to be punished. At first I used to
stand off from the rod as far as I could. But I soon found that the
whipping hurt me more that way than any other; and so I went as near
to my mother as I could, and found she could not strike me so hard.
And so when God chastens us let us kiss the rod and draw as near to
Him as we can.