Safety Nets

Several of my children have begged for a trampoline for such a long time.  Well, this summer we finally caved and bought one; we got a great deal!  But the one stipulation for me was that it absolutely had to have a safety net.  I know trampolines aren't the safest place for my children, but the safety net makes me feel just a bit better.  And if I'm honest, that's exactly how I feel in my life as well:  safety nets make me feel better.

 

Can you relate?  Life isn't safe.  It's never going to be.  In fact, a safe life is not something God ever promised us.  Yet we want that safety more than almost anything else, don't we?  We want to know that at the end of the day, everything is going to be okay.  That we won't fall and get hurt.  That our children and loved ones won't experience great pain.  But we know better. And still, we put such effort into constructing safety nets around our lives.  

This week at my women's group, we discussed the idea of complete surrender to God.  We expressed a common fear of letting go and surrendering complete control.  We honestly shared--as wives, mamas, and friends--that completely surrendering control of our lives was scary.  It didn't come naturally to a single one of us.  And yet the irony is that we were all aware we were not ultimately in control.

So what do we do?  We put up those safety nets.  We make a perfect plan (or so we think) and we aim to stick to it.  We know what's best for us, right?!  We make rules too:  don't lean on or put pressure on the net.  We don't want it to tear or be compromised in any way.  How funny is that?!  We know the net is not completely reliable.  We know it's imperfect.  I wonder why we put so much trust in what we know we can't fully trust when there's a perfect one we can trust?  There's one whose ways are perfect even when they are not our ways...even when we cannot understand them.

I am guilty of living this way.  I am not always quick to trust that God has a better plan than I do.  Especially when I do not understand or comprehend the why of what He is doing!  So often, in His gentleness, God has reminded me that He has a perfect purpose and plan and that it may be revealed to me in time.  He has gently reminded me to trust Him.  At other times, He has actually allowed me to fall right through that safety net and onto my face.  And while it may be incredibly painful...and my self-esteem may be bruised, He has allowed me to see that there is no safety net I can construct that can protect me.  He alone is my safety and shield.  

I haven't arrived at this conclusion perfectly, fully, or completely.  I know it.  But I don't always remember it.  And sometimes in the midst of my day-to-day, God finds me busy constructing another safety net.  For me, it usually gets constructed in an area where I don't have a clear path or the answers I think I need or deserve.  When I feel that perhaps God has forgotten about a particular area, I go to work.  I make a plan.  But my plans are far from perfect and a fault is revealed in time.  Playing it safe is rarely the path that God has chosen for me.  If it was, I wouldn't need to trust Him.  I don't want to live as if I don't trust the only one who is trustworthy.  

I want to feel free to live and jump knowing that the only one who's a safe shield for me is calling me to trust Him without fear and without hesitation.  He calls me to have faith in what I cannot see.

I don't want to trust in what my finite mind can comprehend.  I want to trust in the one who knows the end from the beginning.*  As for my children?  Well, they will still jump on the trampoline with a safety net intact.  (And yes, I know there is still risk involved).  But I hope to help them understand that God is our only safe shield.  His word and his hope are where we can securely put our trust.*

*Isaiah 46:10; Psalm 119:114

Linking up with Jennifer Dukes Lee today

Also linking up with Holley Gerth

He Loves the Waves

Last week our family was in Destin, Florida on our first-ever family vacation.  What a beautiful beach it is!  We learned that this has been voted the number one beach in America.  It was easy to see why.  The water is so crystal clear.  At any point during the day you are able to see so many different shades of blue and green.  And the sand is clean, soft, and white...perfect!  The first two days we were there the waves were so calm; we assumed this was how it must always be.  But the third day, the waves were very strong and coming in differently....with force!

We were discussing the waves, the beach, and the tides as we took one of our daily early-morning walks, when my Tessa said, "Jesus loves the waves!  They're familiar."  Ya know, sometimes your child says something and you think How did she come up with that?!  Not one of those quirky kids-say-the-darnedest-things.  And not even something that she is parroting from a classmate, teacher...or parent.  No.  Once in a while, one of my children says something that stops me dead in my tracks.  Something about the innocence of her stance and the deliberation of her tone tells me I need to take heed.  And I did.  I have.  I have chewed on this one declaration over and over since it came from her sweet lips:  Jesus loves the waves!  They're familiar.

And you know what?  She is absolutely right!  Jesus lived and traveled by the sea.  Jesus was never nervous on the boat when the storm was present and the waves enormous.  He slept while the disciples fretted.  And what's more, metaphorically speaking, Jesus came to make waves.  He was very familiar with that.  He made his parents nervous at the tender age of twelve when he stayed behind at the temple; he said "didn't you know I'd be about my Father's business?"*  Jesus overturned the money changer's tables in the synagogue and he overturned their theologies too.  He was always about His Father's business!  Incidentally, His Father's business was so often about making waves!  Familiar?  Yes....to Jesus.  Predictable or safe?  No.  Just as we warned our children about those strong waves:  you can't trust yourself or your own strength in those waves....even if you think you can.

In our own lives--and with the many waves that come--we can't trust ourselves!  We need to put our trust in the One who is familiar with the waves.  He can handle them.  He allows them.  He is the Creator, Author, and Finisher and He alone can handle the waves.  He can calm them or He can hold, protect, and remind us gently of His presence while they roll and roar.  Although I don't always understand why He chooses to allow some waves in our lives to grow so strong, I'm learning to trust.  When the disciples were fearful at sea, in the midst of the storm, they finally called on Jesus.  They had Him with them all along.  They could have been at peace, while the Prince of Peace was with them...safe with their Savior!  But they didn't trust or choose peace.  At times, neither do I.  

When the waves in my life grow strong, so often I cower in fear and trust in my own knowledge or feelings, rather than lean into the arms of the One who can handle the waves.  He loves the waves.  As I have contemplated the words of my 5 year old, I think I understand.  When the waves get stronger, I need Him more.  And when they become fierce--though my soul may be in anguish--I lean on Him like never before.  After I come out of the storm and the strong waves, I look back in reflection and realize that those have been the times when I've pressed into Him the closest.  I may be fearful alright.  I may feel tossed and shaken.  I may have desperately cried from deep within.  But without the mighty and unpredictable waves--those ones that are familiar to Jesus, I would not cling so strongly to Him. 

At first, when she said "Jesus loves the waves!" I felt a bit uncomfortable with that statement.  The audacity of it!  How can he?  How can He love something that shakes and whips me about?  How can he love something that creates such desperation within me?  But if I'm honest, I get it!  He wants us to need Him.  He wants us to cling to Him.  He doesn't want us to ever get so confident on the waters that we forget to depend on Him....the Creator of the tides.  And I'm learning this.  Day after day after day.  Just when I think I'm capable...He allows the tide to turn.  And the tide always turns.  I have to learn complete and utter dependence on Him!  Sometimes the tide turns in my favor.  Sometimes it whips me in a direction I never thought I'd go.  Sometimes it wipes me out and flips me upside down, gasping for relief.  And at times, the waves are hardly more than ripples.  He allows the calm too.  That's just it.  He is the Creator of the tides.  He loves the waves and yes, they are familiar.  He knows the end from the beginning.  The test is in the middle of the waves.  But the answer is always the same.  He is familiar with the waves.  He alone can allow the tide to turn.  He alone can calm the sea.

Father, help me to trust and hold onto you in the midst of the ocean waves of my life.  Calm or fierce.  Strong or small.  Let me cling to You and depend on you alone.  You love the waves because they create in me a dependence on You alone.  You are my source and my  strength.  Help me find my rest...riding out life's waves with You.  


*Luke 2:49

I'm having Coffee For Your Heart with my friend Holley Gerth