Set 'Em Up For Success

 

Set ‘Em Up For Success

     Ever drive pheasants down a country ditch to a “stopper” waiting at the other end?  Well, it’s a heart pounding thing.  Sound and sight shove surprise right into the air when the birds jump off with wings beating.  “Pop, pop, pop!”  Sudden percussions of shot guns in unison taking aim at erratic flight paths.  Safety warrants split decisions not to spray a friend with pellets.  “Hen!”  Got to let her go and seek the rooster hunkered down in the tall grass.  It’s a plus having a dog if he’s well trained and doesn’t rush the flush.

      Shooting things out of the air brings back WWII pictures of bombers set on course.  Nose to the wind and fighters running dodge ball.  Anti-aircraft guns put a bead and pull the trigger to advance the lead.  Hoping the raised shell to connect in time, Motherland in desperation targets the menace to fill the sky with exploding smoke.

     When we raise children, they are not for our entertainment.  Not little things we joke with or point fingers at their embarrassments. Not spinning targets in a crude kind of amusement park game.

  Malachi 4:6 “And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”

     Just a snip bit of scripture to reaffirm the understanding of God’s heart towards little ones.  If they were the quail of the family given to fly and be fleshed, our God would have said so.  Driving closer to His heart would be to climb the precipice to His eye.  Gutzon Borglum knew nothing compared to crafting the pupil of God.  Jack hammers flauntingly drove a chore commensurate to cupping the wind in his hands.  Deed done and the man be respected.  Still, understood that God in particular senses the whoa of those caught in despair.  He feels.

     Our responsibility as parents lies in recognizing and promoting.  We are to examine our children.  What are their inborn strengths?  By spending time with them, we build that parental insight needed to understand them better than they do themselves.  We know the world.  We also know what shape is needed to get the job done while maintaining one’s particular identity.  It’s a fine line, a tight rope of sorts.  Tethered to the cable, we must encourage them if they fall to get back up and try again.  Broad grace is to flow out of our arms hugging the one who has tried and failed.

     Today, are they suffocating under you?  Surrounded by water and fearing their last breath, from the boat you can reach down.  Have they humiliated you when others call them your offspring?  Have their crooked paths conflicted with yours?  Please set them up for success once again.  Surely, tough love is needed at times, but a hand of mercy God asks for.

James 2:13 “For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.”

     In other words, “I told you so,” with a laughing face is never the intent God shows.  Failure meets defeat only when sides don’t cheer the runner on to get up and accomplish more.  Pop shots keeping the fledgling at bay and in control have no place in the kingdom.  A father is to pour everything out.   Mother nurtures.  The pride of the nest is to soar from the height given.  Why must we shoot insults in jealousy?  They are to accomplish more.  So, let’s help them.

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