Throwing Kids

Yup, I'm branching out into agricultural terminology again. "Throwing kids" is a term in reference to a sire passing his genetics onto his progeny. For example, you could say,"He throws nice kids," or "He throws sickly kids," or whatever.

When God created the human race, the threw us kids out from the intricacy of Himself. We were carved from the network of His Being. "Then God said,'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.' So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." -Genesis 1:26&27
So here we are, kids thrown from a divine father onto an earth of clay. Our very "image of God" is encased in clay. Our spirit is what God threw out here, and he clothed it in clay. Why, oh, why did he make us out of clay? Clay is heavy and hardly penetrable by water. It's not very fertile and when baked, it's brittle. Clay by itself is not very useful. It takes skill in the hands of a Master Potter to make anything useful of it.

Encased in flesh, thrown from heaven, we were commanded to be fruitful and multiply. Thusly, man threw kids of his own. He stamped his genetic material on his children as surely as God stamped His image on man. Oh, and then the challenge begins! Now that you have been faithful to multiply and produce children, you are saddled with the task of raising these children. What a privilege to be seen fit for this task! However, it's a weighty responsibility. I am not a father, but I have watched my husband struggle over and over with the cumbersome role of "father". It is not enough for man to sire, but he must "train and nurture".

"Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." -Ephesians 6:4
Needless to say, you mustn't actually

throw your children!

Seriously, though, fathers are required to avoid the trauma associated with brutalizing their children's hearts. Oh, so easy to do! At either extreme is an overbearing, hard-to-please father who rides their child's tail until they crack from the pressure; then there's a withdrawn or absent father who doesn't seem to have any hope or vision for his child, so the child hardly knows what to do with himself/herself. I have found the most beautiful tactic to be one of remaining humble. When you have made a mistake with your child, just ask forgiveness and talk about why it's wrong. Children are so quick to forgive.

Personally, all of the work of my hand bears fruit in some way. Every action is "throwing a kid" per se, because I have taken an idea and put some legs on it with putting it into happening. I must daily examine the work of my hands to compare it to God's standard of holiness. The "kids" I throw today may breed trouble down the line for myself or someone else; or the "kids" may serve as a source of prosperity and health for someone else or myself.

Throw good kids.

God did.