Just the other day, my little girl taught me how to fly. I stood beside her small, unassuming frame as her larger than life enthusiasm began to take shape into just the encouragement I needed to hurtle headlong into the unknown.

At first my fear at the very thought of learning to flip on the trampoline mirrored the trepidation I’ve recently felt in life as I stand on the precipice between the safe and familiar and the new and wildly uncertain. That is exactly how it struck me to seriously entertain thoughts of willing my body to leap head first in complete surrender to the flip I could only hope would go well. I’ve not really somersaulted since I was a kid, let alone ever learned to flip… let alone learned to flip in mid-air! But can I just tell you how liberating it was to release my fear of the unknown in life as I released my fear of not knowing how to actually execute this act of surrender called a flip? I just took a deep breath and I went for it. I looked. I told myself I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me. Then I leaped!

Because as I looked around, I thought about how despite the way it often appears, Christ is the only solid rock on which I stand. Not a trampoline, not anything else. Like most of us, I create illusions of security in my own mind all the time. I take for granted I am safe and secure wherever I go. But in reality, the days in the book of my life were numbered before I was even born. I may make plans, but it is the Lord who directs my steps.

The only thing that gave me the courage to fly that day, was remembering that my worry only helped sustain precisely the false sense of security that I’d love nothing more than to shed for good. The fact is, my worry actually changes nothing But worry does leave room for the illusion that I was ever actually in control in the first place, and that’s not what I want for my life. If there is one thing I know for sure, I changed for the better the day that I realized it was time to let my Creator and Sustainer sail this ship. Because His ways are far better than my own, He is the only One I want in control of this life of mine.

What about you? Where do you look for courage to face your fears and fly? Has God brought someone to be the voice of encouragement to spread your wings and do the hard things? Or have you been that person for someone else? Let’s talk about it!
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