The Jump

I've been missing from blog world lately. You can almost always be assured that when there's silence on this blog, there's stuff going on behind-the-scenes. :) Since making the decision to step out, we've had some soul-searching, revamping of plans, changes in details...not to mention some serious action in the training end of it all. Picture an athlete stepping forward to pursue his Olympic dream...remember all of his long hard days in training before ever making it to the Olympics...remember all the times he falls down and gets back up...remember all the training and focus that goes into his every day...that's where we are.

Yesterday our youngest daughter was standing on the bed, ready for me to pick her up. I held out my hands for her to jump into them. She excitedly walked to the edge of the big bed and jumped into my arms. Now, this is no big deal for most children, but for our daughter this is a big step in the trust department. She was adopted just 7 months ago, and she did not naturally trust us at first. In fact, sometimes she still stresses out when I sling the diaper bag over my shoulder to walk out the door...she still thinks there's a good chance that I'll leave her. So, we are working on trust. She wasn't always so sure about jumping into my arms, but now she does it with ease. Yesterday, my husband was in the room when she was standing on the bed. I said, "Hey..watch and see what God wants us to be like!" I looked at our daughter and said, "Okay, come on!" And she headed to the edge of the bed and stepped off into what could have easily felt like thin air...but as her little feet left the bed, my arms reached out and caught her. It made me SMILE to know that her trust had grown so much in 7 months!

And each time she jumps into my arms, it speaks to my spirit. That's what God wants from ME! He wants me to know Him and trust Him so intensely that when He says, "Okay, come on!" I will jump with complete trust. That not only means that I jump...but that I do NOT hesitate...that I do NOT rethink all the things that could happen, as if He would somehow forget to catch me. I took tremendous joy in expecting our daughter to jump into my arms, and I imagine that God takes joy in watching ME jump into His...even when I cannot see how He'll catch me. Our daughter just KNOWS I'll catch her. Do I know God will catch me??? I mean really KNOW it...to the point that I actually do it...with no hesitation.

Today as I was washing some dishes after lunch, I was looking out my kitchen window (which overlooks the woods behind our house), and I noticed movement way (wayyyyyy) up on a tree limb. It was a squirrel jumping from one tree to another. Imagine jumping from one tree to another...not down low where the forest ground is close-by and nicely padded with leaves...but rather way up high where one slip of the feet will surely end in splattered squirrel!! I kept looking at that squirrel and thinking how dumb he was to jump on tiny tree limbs several stories above the ground. As I watched him, he decided to just sit on a thin limb and put his front feet in his mouth...as if he were eating a snack...no big deal. DUMB SQUIRREL! Who eats snacks at dangerous heights?? And it hit me: GOD MADE HIM TO DO THAT! It's not dumb when it's just what God made him to do (and just a note...we have many squirrels on our property, and I've never found one who died from falling from these tall trees...amazing isn't it!?).

When we do what God created us to do...even when it's crazy and something akin to that squirrel jumping from limb to limb way up in the trees...we have to just JUMP. Like our daughter taught me...it takes full trust to be able to jump. Like the squirrel taught me...when God creates you to do something, you can land even the craziest of leaps onto the thinnest of limbs. JUST JUMP (and maybe even enjoy a snack at death-defying heights while you're up there!).