day no. 16,360: stone cold instruction

"If you can teach a child not to throw a stone, you can teach him when to shoot an arrow; if you cannot teach him anything, he will always have something to throw." — G.K. Chesterton

A child is born with both the ability and the desire to throw stones. This can, however, be curbed or corralled by discipline and instruction. If you can train a child to resist the urge to throw a stone, you can train him to hold the string until the right time to fire. A child with a trigger needs instruction on how to shoot and why, at whom to shoot and when. If they have been taught to stop throwing rocks, they can be taught to start shooting arrows.

John 8:7

He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone.

The desire to sling stones come naturally. The discernment to know when to throw them, however, doesn’t. That must be taught. If you don’t take the time to teach your children discernment, that won't prevent them from throwing stones. They are going to do that without any instruction. Rocks will be tossed. The only questions are at whom and when.

All that to say, the native soul is full of pluck and lacks no creativity when surveying things to pluck up. Thus, all children should be rock enrolled. Everyone needs stone cold instruction.

David knew how to throw a rock and which were best for slinging. He knew how and he knew when. 

1 Samuel 17:36

“Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.”

We gain nothing in raising a generation of boys too timid to toss rocks, but we do lose our fighting chance against the giants. What we get in manners, we give up in mettle.