I have this image of my oldest daughter forever seared in my
mind. There she was, four years old,
standing on the edge of the swimming pool with goggles secure, arm floaties in
place, and me three feet away waiting for her to join me in the pool. To her, the ‘deep’ three feet of water was
reason enough to question my authority as her mom to know what she was capable
of accomplishing. As I watched her teeter
between courage and fear I knew it had to be her decision. Could I force her to jump in? Sure.
Could I scold her for being unnecessarily fearful? Probably.
As her mom, though, I wanted the best for her in that moment because I
knew little moments like these add up to big ones. I wanted her to trust me; trust that I wouldn’t
let her fall too far from my reach, trust that I could see a bigger picture of what
might be best for her, and trust that I truly believed in her ability to
accomplish what I was asking her to do.
I can imagine God standing in the deepest, murkiest, unknown
waters of life just waiting for us to have the courage to jump in. In His perfect love for his children he waits
patiently while we teeter on the edge of fear and courage. He already knows whether we’ll go back to our
beach towels to analyze the situation a little longer, stand on the edge for
what feels like forever fearing failure, or whether we’ll back up a few steps
only get a good running start into the all-out, no turning back jump of a lifetime. So where are you? Is that hard ground under your towel feeling less comfortable these days? Have you taken a walk to the water’s edge to look out and get a glimpse of what God may have for you? Every single step away from your comfort zone takes courage, you know. Or are you running full speed gearing up for the biggest splash of your life? Sometimes I want to be both on the towel as far from the edge as possible and in the water, but I can’t be in two places at once. God not only sees me where I am, but He is calling me out into the water with Him ever so patiently because He knows what’s best for me and living life out of the water gets less and less appealing the more I get to know Him. I truly desire to obey the call to join Him in my unknown waters because obeying feels much more like a privilege and joy than a rule. It takes courage and a hefty dose of faith that I’ll never be out of my Heavenly Father’s reach, but He promised and I trust Him.
Who else is with me?
Want to hold hands and all jump in together? 3…2…1…
Jena M.
