Teetering

The title says it all.  That is what I have been doing since September...the last post...teetering on the verge of writing another one.  It is so easy to get out of the routine and it's not like I haven't had anything to say.  It's just that the phone doesn't work in the shower, texting while driving is against the law here, and various other inopportune moments have partnered with my moments of inspiration.  Okay, life got in the way.  BUT...thanks for coming back to the 'Spring' and I resolve in this new decade to be more diligent in maintaining the blog!  So, with that said...

Our 3-year old loves to run.  He loves to be chased.  So one of our evening rituals is that I chase him through the house.  Now, at 40/30 (that's 40 years old and 30lbs outta shape) it is to my advantage that we live in a small house and the span of our living room is just a few steps across.  But, for him it is enough and that is what is important.

One thing I have always done is stay close to him while we run and kind of nudge him in the back.  He will fall in quite the dramatic fashion and roll across the carpet laying there doing his best "possum" impersonation.  Then he jumps up and off we go again.

I have noticed over time that it takes a little more nudge to get him off balance.  He is growing .  He is getting stronger and his balance and coordination are improving.  He is learning how to handle losing his balance. 

Reminds me of what Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome:

"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.  More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." (Romans 5:1-5)

 Life pushes us at different times and at different strengths.  But, as our experience with God and subsequently our faith grow, then we become better able to maintain our balance.  There will be times when we still fall.  But it is also through those times that we build endurance and our time lying on life's basement floor will be shorter.  And the peace of God which comes from his Spirit in us will produce the character that continues to produce hope. 

None of this is automatic.  It is not without our desire for our faith to grow stronger.  It is not without our willingness to allow God to work through the good AND the not so good times in our lives.  It is not without an effort to cultivate a closer relationship with Him.  We have to make a choice.

Are you teetering?

"It's okay, I've got you."

Trolley ride through the Rivermarket - $2.00
Watching the Peabody ducks march back upstairs - $0
Spending time with my wife and kids - Priceless

Okay, sorry I beat that dead commercial but it really was priceless. Anyway, I'm squatted down in the Peabody lobby with Jackson waiting for the Duck Master to cue the fowl. Jackson is used to ducks because he feeds them down at the lake. So we perch ourselves up front with our toes right on the edge of the red carpet - front row, reach-out-and-touch-em seats right at the bottom of their stairs. When they climb out of that fountain we can shake their hands?...feet?...wings?

I'm positioned behind Jackson with my hands on his arms - doing the whole "daddy commentator" thing. The Duck Master cues the music and let the show begin. As soon as that first duck starts down the stairs Jackson tenses up and begins backing up into my chest, pushing ever so slightly to allow a lot more distance between him and that quacker. Then the whole downy family heads right for us (or so it seems to a 2 year old). Let the pushin' and shovin' begin!

"It's okay buddy...I've got you. They won't hurt you. I'm right here with you. Daddy is bigger than those ducks and I won't let them hurt you."

I wanted him to work through his uncomfortableness (new word) so that next time he will be more relaxed. So with that he settled down just in time to see the ducks load in the elevator, give a rousing wing flap goodbye, and off they were to their little duck house on the second floor. In less than a minute it was all over. And Jackson stood there...applauding to his heart's content.

Hmmm. Got me to thinkin'...

How many times in my life am I faced with uncertainty and as I try to push back on my life God says, "It's okay...I've got you. I'm right here with you. I am bigger than this and I will protect you."

But I keep pushing away from what makes me uncomfortable. But God wants me to work through my uncomfortableness so that next time I will be better equipped to handle it. What looks menacing and dangerous and insurmountable to me is no match for the God of the universe. And He wants nothing more than to celebrate with me as I load my challenge on the elevator and send it up.

Then He will stand there...applauding to my heart's content.

The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. And he thrust out the enemy before you and said, Destroy.

Deuteronomy 33:27