A dad drives a nail in a post every time his son rebels

Someone tells the story of a boy who was rebelling against his dad constantly. This boy was destroying his own life by his rebellion, but he refused to heed his father’s words. One day, the dad said to the boy, “I want to show you what you’re doing to your life. I’m going to put a wooden post in our front yard. Every time you rebel, I will put a nail in this post. Every time you obey, I will pull out one nail.” The first thought from the boy was, “I’m going to do everything I can to fill that post with nails.” And he did. In two months’ time, he filled that post with nails. But he also began to feel the damage he was doing to his own life and to his parents’ lives. With true remorse, the boy began to obey his father. One by one, the nails came out. When the last nail came out of the post, the boy broke down in tears. The dad asked, “Son, why are you crying?” And the boy replied, “I got rid of the nails, but I can’t get rid of the holes.” (Dana Chau - Sermon Central).