There is a moment in a mothers life when she finds herself scared to death for approximately 2.4 milliseconds...give or take a few.
If you have ever spent time around my husband and son when their playtime is at it's peak, you will generally see my toddler being fliped through the air, bounced off of couches, held upside down, and all other manner of insanity...now before you finish dialing the number for CPS, stop and listen for a moment. Listen for my son's belly-aching-explosion of giggledrops as he runs to his daddy and lifts his arms as if to say, "Again!!"
As a mother, I have to close my eyes sometimes while they play. It's so hard for me to trust; trust that my husband will not drop him at some crucial moment of acrobatics, or that my son, the most precious thing in the world, will not get scared and flip out in a way that their playtimes would hurt him. Sometimes, in the ways he gets tossed around, it is his absolute, reckless abandon and trust of his daddy that makes it fun and keeps him safe. This is what keeps them playing and moving as one single unit.
Our pastor today told a similar story of a little girl and her daddy. He placed her on a ledge and told her to jump into his arms. She did it every time without fail. Giggling and laughing, she would keep jumping over and over again, knowing he would catch her every time.
It amazes me the reckless abandon our children have for us. The limits to which they trust our love and responsibility for their little lives...My son has never once shown fear that his father would not catch him. He has never once asked me if he should be eating the food I serve or playing with the toys I give him. It makes me wonder if I am really putting that same kind of trust in the Heavenly Father. If he places me on a "ledge" in my life, will I just run and jump, knowing not only that he will catch me, but also that we will have a blast along the way? If the Lord were to allow me to be tossed around, would I relax and enjoy the ride or would I flip out because I am not in control?
Sometimes He tells us to jump and we refuse because we cannot, in our adult minds, wrap ourselves around the end result. He reminds us that He is there to catch us, that He has created this life for us to experience Him and enjoy it and all we can do is live in fear.
Pura Vida. Pure Life. Live a life not in fear of falling, but in the joy of living it to the fullest.
