VoV - Choices
"My trials have been fewer than my sins, and when I have kissed the rod it has fallen from Thy hands"

If I simply remember the first part it would change my life. God does not treat us tit for tat - trials for sins. If  He did, I'd see constant trials. It would all be "briars and barrenness" ( VoV Shortcoming).

Kissing the rod means to accept and receive the trial as loving fatherly discipline (Heb 12). In doing so, the rod is seen as an instrument of growth in Christ, and not as punishment for sin. Jesus took the punishment so that trials  / suffering for us can be experienced without the bitterness, gall and sense of condemnation.