My daughters are fearless.
Story after story of boy-like injuries I could tell. All from jumping, launching, falling, climbing and propelling.
Naomi, my wispy, blonde princess can leap with the best of them. Her favorite right now is to climb a jungle gym, find a far-reached horizontal bar of sorts and see if she can grab it in the air.
I sit on the bench nearby, watching and not worrying if she’ll fall (I DO, however, worry about her older sister perched on top of a barrel racing horse every Wednesday afternoon). Wood chips, sand or spongy ground covers the playground. I look at her face; she’s intently thinking and making quick calculations in her little brain. Can I make it, I’m sure she thinks.
She catches the bar more often than she falls (although her shins tell a different story) so I sit and watch with the pre-summer spring breeze. And if she doesn’t, I think, she’ll just bounce.
She lurches and for a split second in the air she touches nothing. Her hands catch the bar and her feet dangle 12 inches above the ground. Swinging, smiling and then realizing that she’ll have to let go to find solid footing again.
MAMA! She screams. HELP!
But she’s in no danger.
She’s perfectly safe, just suspended a little above the earth.
“Just let go!” I call to her from a few feet away. But she can’t see me. Her hands and arms fiercely grasp the bar and she can’t turn her head; it’s pressed between her tiny shoulders.
Just. Let. Go.
And she does. And she reaches the ground without injury. Without broken ankles or a bruised knee, she just lands softly.
She has faith in me, her mother, that if I tell her it’s safe to “fall” then she will be okay. She trusts me, even though she couldn’t see me. She trusts that I love her and won’t ask her to do something of which she’s incapable.
God is asking me to let go of what I THINK is saving me and listen to him even though I can’t always see Him. He asks me to hear His voice and trust that He loves me enough to direct me into what is best.
And sometimes it’s oh, so hard. And oh, so scary.
But that’s the point, right?
I know too, that like any good mother with a child in danger, if I was dangling high above the earth He’d rush in to catch and cover me and carry me to safe footing. But those smaller things, those JUST LET GO things, He wants me to practice trust. He wants me to be alright sitting in the middle of fear.
Just Let Go.
The earth is solid and its right beneath my feet.
Naomi’s sandled-feet run toward me. “Mama! I’m gonna do it ONE MORE TIME!” And she climbs back up to the top of the jungle gym and leaps again, this time more confident and less fearful.
Do you need to JUST LET GO?
Beautiful post and such a great reminder. Letting go can be so fun!!
AMAZING. This is exactly what I needed to hear today. Isn’t it amazing how the Internet can allow you to touch who you need to? Thanks, Sarah!
Great post Sarah! I love how you’re able to take things that are part of my everyday experience and use them to highlight spiritual truths. This will definitely stick with me everytime I am at the playground with my kids.
Leaping again, this time more confident and less fearful…
(just what I needed to hear today)
Thank you~
Glad I found this post! It’s something I really needed to hear today. As a mom, I expect my kids to trust me…so why can’t I do the same?
Oh Sarah,
This is soooo something I needed to hear today. Why do we try so hard to hang on to our control, even when we KNOW that we really have none.
I love how our relationship with our own children is a direct reflection on our relationship with our heavenly Father! I would not have been able to comprehend that if I didn’t have kids! truly a blessing. Beautiful!
JUST LET GO!
Yes, I’ve been struggling w/ pre-term labor for 4 weeks now and it looks like there is nothing else the Doctors can do. This baby wants to come early and I just have to accept it. But I can’t. I can’t seem to figure out how to let go and trust God. I need to let go and surrender this child to God but I’m struggling grasping at everything and anything trying to stay in control of this situation that I have absolutly no control over.
oh! i know that feeling.
rest, peace. and if God wants your baby out now, he will take care of her.
=)
OH. I am DEFINITELY needing to just let go.
of security…
of people’s opinions…
of control…
and when I picture what it would look like and feel like to actually let it all go, there is so much more peace down that path.
I feel that I am soon coming to that soft fall….
again…wow for my own heart!
letting go IS hard…it seems so passive in an adrenaline-based world where WE feel the need to see ourselves as THE major actor…
to let go is to be perceived as weak…and in our culture (even in the church), perception seems to be EVERYthing!
letting go is NOT cool…not “sexy” in our over-branded & hyper-marketed way of thinking…
yet the same Jesus Who called us to take up His easy yoke & to carry His light burden…is calling us to listen & then to let go…sometimes even if we cannot hear Him at all.
love you…
dad
i agree dad. thank you for always offering the most amazing comments here in this community. i know that it they minister to so many of us.
Your girls are fearless…and yes, I need to just let go…easier said than done.
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Thank you for the sweet lesson on trusting Him! He’s real good at catching us, isn’t He? Have a great weekend! love in Jesus, deb
Letting go is taking a breath of faith…a small leap and knowing God will catch you! Wonderful post.
blessings
small leap. i feel like im in the middle of a small leap.
yes. thank you for commenting.
Each and every day is an act of faith in letting go and following God’s direction. Brilliant post
This is funny how many times this phrase is popping up all around me lately. I JUST posted a comment along the same lines to another blogger. The list of possible things to let go of is endless…
Letting go is harder than almost anything we Christians are called to do. It’s so hard, this act of FAITH…
I do need to let go.
I’m pregnant with our first child right now, and already I’ve started to worry. I worry about hearing the heartbeat at each appointment. I worry about the ultrasound coming up a little over a week from now. I worry about being a good parent to this child.
Thanks for the reminder to let go of all of my worries and trust that God really can provide. He is the only one I can trust to see me through each day. I really do need to let go of all of my worries and trust that God is in control today and everyday. He’ll catch me whenever I fall, just like He’ll protect this little one inside of me.
you will be fine. what an amazing time of life you are in.
God will teach you each step of the way how to be a good mother. =)