I drive a Ford F250 diesel truck. My original mode of transportation was a "Soccer Mom" van. This was of course before the gas prices sky-rocketed. Now that the cost of diesel is enormously expensive (compared to what it once was) and my work is much closer than my husband's I've been driving the gas guzzler (as I affectionately call it).
This truck is so huge! I literally have to get in completely to strap my younger 2 children in the truck. By the time I've gotten them in the truck and sit in the driver's seat, I'm much too tired to even start driving to wherever it is I needed to go. Perhaps I'm just out of shape. No, I blame the truck! Did I tell you it's huge?
When my young children get out of the truck, they've started playing this game with me. After they strap out, they say "I want to jump to you." Although this goes against every mother-protecting instinct I have for them, I indulge them and say with outstretched arms "Ok, jump to me." They spend another couple of seconds making sure I'm standing just right: arms outstretched the right length and whole body a certain distance away. Then when I'm in the perfect spot, they stretch out their arms, close their eyes, smile broadly and then jump to me with all of their might, never flinching. I admit to saying a quick prayer as they are making sure I'm where they want me to be prior to the jump, but each and every time I catch them.
Watching my children do this with such complete trust and faith in my catching abilities reminds me of how I think I should be and perhaps we all should be with God and our faith. Many times God says to us "Ok, jump to Me" and we hesitate or don't do it at all. May we trust God in the same way our children trust us. Stretch out your arms, close your eyes, smile broadly and jump with all of your might to our God who never fails to catch us.
2 comments:
Shauna...loved reading your posts today. And I love listening to you speak about your love of God. The analogy of the kids trusting you with their jumping compared to us, as adults, needing that same faith really resonates with me. But I wounder this....
Is it truely that we lack "enough faith"? Or is it in our understanding of who we are placing our faith and trust in?
I know everyday that I pull out my chair at the office and take a seat. Do I fear I will fall on my butt? Nope, I have faith that the chair is strong and steady and can handle me. If suddenly one day that chair was replaced with something small and rickety, that looked to be on the verge of falling apart, would i trust it and sit down? Probably not. I would hesitate and check it out closer before I sat.
Your children trust you and have placed their faith in you that you will catch them every time because they KNOW you. They Know you are capable to catch them, they KNOW you love them. They KNOW you have never intentionally hurt them, and they KNOW you will not fail them.
When we face trials, and are placed in moments when we must trust God, it is not a matter of lack of faith...but a matter of how how well we know the God we are putting our faith in. If we truely knew our God as the BIG GOD he is, the God who created the universe, the God who walked on water, the God who rose from the dead....even faith the size of a mustard seed would be enough for us to trust and JUMP. We don't jump because we really don't embrace how big God is. So the answer isn't growing our faith....it's about growing our relationship with God in a way that trains our hearts to SEE him as trustworthy.
God is growing me in a huge way in this area. Each time I hesistate in stepping out in faith, I am faced with the question, "Patti, do you really believe that the God you claim is as BIG as you claim he is?"
The Holy Spirit, alive and well, and working in my heart. How big is your God today?
Just thoughts to ponder!
Love Ya!
Hi Patti....thanks for reading my blog and taking the time to comment. I enjoyed reading your comment and it does provide some food for thought.
I absolutely agree that it is our level of understanding that is the key to having a deep, meaningful relationship with God. I also believe that faith is the first step in having a relationship with Him. I guess my point-of-view when writing my original post wasn't necessarily one of someone with deep faith, but one rather concerned for those who have no faith at all that God is real and there for us. I think many adults have a need to be able to see and touch something in order to consider it real.
I liked your chair analogy. I'm going to take it one step further. What if you walked into your office and there was no chair there? Would you still go over to your desk and sit as if there was one? What if someone came in and said to you that the chair is there? Would you believe them? Would it depend on who the person was....your parent vs. your child, someone you consider trustworthy vs. someone known to you to make practical jokes, someone you knew vs. a total stranger, someone who could see something you couldn't vs. someone who simply had faith it was there? What if a whole crowd gathered in your office and told you the chair was there? What if you didn't need anyone to tell you it was there at all....something inside you told you it was there and you just simply believed it was? When you finally decided to sit in the chair you can't see, would you sit in it as if you could see it or would you hold on to your desk just in case you were wrong?
I think many adults have a hard time "letting go." We have to hold on to something. I think my post is more about surrendering to God completely and letting Him take us to where He needs us to go...physically and spiritually. The letting go part is having faith in your understanding that God will do just that.
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