Lately I feel like I’m living on a limb, teetering and balancing as I walk along not knowing which side of the tree I’ll fall on. With a recent past filled with pain yet purpose and a present promising a new season of heart-saving hope, I step cautiously.
I wonder if God’s calling me to yet another cliff.
Because when He says jump, the only thing to do is close your eyes on the edge of the cliff and trust. Free fall, knowing He’s used any pain and purpose of your past to prepare you for the present moment.
But how do we do that? How do we trust so deeply that we let our legs be drawn forward down a brittle autumn limb feeling looser with each step?
How do I do that again when I’m already coming from experiences I never expected and lessons I’m not even sure I’ve learned well? How do I let go and live when I feel like risk rakes itself into the already deep indents of my human heart?
My steps waver and the limb loosens the further I walk away from the stability of the tree. The tree, offering a false sense of security, can easily be chopped down in a world slowly dying from fear, false teachings and unfathomable darkness. Yet I long to stay close to its so-called safety and I forget that my fear of walking away from the dark bark of the world will only scrape me if I stay. So I should go...
I should trust, right? Yeah, we should all go and trust when it's our time to step out on a limb.
Hasn’t this happened to you? It’s when you know you need to walk away from a safe, secure spot in your world to realize what blessings come next. It’s when you choose the harder path because the purpose is great the potential rewards outweigh what you’re working at now. It’s that time and space when your spirit…The Spirit…whispers a new certainty into your ears and you’ve got a choice to look up and listen or keep your head down and heart hard.
Yeah, head down and heart guarded. That’s where I’ve lived the last few years. Close to the home tree, safe in a spot of necessary healing before I could consider stepping out on a limb blowing in fall's wind, into a new season.
But now the wind’s blowing hard and the limbs feel loose. I hear the Spirit whispering. I listen, sometimes reluctantly. My heart’s slowly opening and my head’s lifting as I walk along this limb, teetering with arms out wide, balancing and trusting that the mighty hands of God have got me.
Because if He’s calling me to a cliff, the only right answer I’ve got in this humble and still healing heart of mine is to trust, to free fall into a future He’s planned for me. It’s a future He knows but I live one present moment at a time.
You too, you know. The only right choice you’ve got is to listen, too. Listen to the whisper before it becomes a shout.
It’s a scary, sometimes soul-scathing thought to our minds already made up that status quo will keep us safe. But the truth is that the status quo is only an illusion of safety because we’re really only safe when we’re walking on a limb of life given to us by the Lord.
We’re only really safe when we let His hand guide us away from what the world and our human hearts expected to encounter.
So, no, safety is not in sameness. Security doesn’t feel like stable ground. It feels like stepping out into a saving grace.
I don’t know when my limb will snap or what cliff I’m coming to.
But, I’m learning to trust in His timing and know that my cliffs only come when I’m called to walk, teetering in trust, on a limb. And as I look back at my home tree, I see that security fade into a new season of leaves changing color and life rearranging.
And I see that there’s no going back.
So, let’s all trust in His perfect timing and all of our unknowns will give way to a new way where the purpose pleases Him and blessings abound.
I think I’m ready. Are you?
Will you step out on a limb with me as we live our lives well? It’s just like stepping out into the security of saving grace. So, come on, let’s walk....
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