One of my daughters used to come to me as a toddler and say, “In the air, Daddy, in the air!” She wanted me to hurl her up and catch her. I did so to her utter delight. My other daughter saw this and asked me to toss her too. Yet as she leveled off, her face contorted into sheer terror.
(Photo: Design Pics, via Vivozoom)
When I caught her, she clung to me with all four limbs and begged, “No, not again!”
Later I considered why the same flight gave joy to one and terrorized the other.
- One focused on my ability to catch her.
- The other focused on her inability to control the flight.
We do the same thing with God.
God Does the Tossing
As my daughters become young women, I find myself in a similar situation. I still see them hurled in the air, but instead of me doing the tossing and catching, God the Father flings them while I helplessly watch from a distance.
In those moments I become acutely aware of the struggle between my confidence in the Lord’s ability versus my own.
Every parent faces this tension.
- We want our children to follow Christ, but we hesitate to click here.
Adapted from Wayne Stiles, “In Good Hands,” (Kindred Spirit: Fall 2006 vol. 30, no. 3)