Tightropes beneath our feet

Walking on precarious paths

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   Why did I climb this stupid platform? I asked myself for the hundredth time. I was supposed to walk across a rope and expect my tether rope and harness to keep me safe. A zip line with a pulley was strung above the tightrope to keep me balanced on the rope. If I would only walk, the rope would hold me on the tightrope, but I was too scared. The teenage boy holding my tether rope, stared up at me. He had given up trying to convince me to walk across, he only wanted me to jump from the platform.

   “Just jump, I'll catch you,” He told me.

   “How much do you weigh?” I asked him doubtfully. He looked too skinny to be able to catch anything, especially a thirteen old girl who was pushing six feet.

   “It doesn't matter. The rope will catch you. Just jump! You've been up there for half an hour,” he retorted loudly.

   I closed my eyes and felt my knees sag. No. I couldn't do it.

   “Jump!” He yelled.

   I made the decision. And leaped off the platform. The boy wasn't expecting my sudden burst of courage and he flew up into the air, but he stopped the tether rope zipping through his pulley by jerking it up against his belt. The rope held. I slammed to a stop in the air. The boy let the rope pass through his hands slowly, and I fell onto the ground, my legs trembling too much to hold me up.

   “See? That wasn't so hard,” he told me. He grabbed my hand and jerked me to my feet.

   Sometimes, I think that my life is like that tightrope. God has a tether rope on me, and He tells me to walk across that tightrope. If I fall, He promises to catch me. But I always seem to look at the circumstances.

   God, are you sure you can catch me? That tightrope is strung too high. What if I slip? God, will you catch me? I can't do this. I'm too weak. I know I'll slip. Why are you torturing me by making me walk this rope? Are you really the kind God that I have learned to love?

   Doubts plague me and hold me to the platform, my body trembling with anxiety. I sit down on that platform. I'm listening to my fears and I cannot perform this feat that God wants me to do. He just wants me to try and walk. He wants me to trust Him. But I am busy talking to myself and depending on my own strength.

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not on thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."

~Proverbs 3:5~

   Lately, I have been learning that trust is a decision. God wants us to trust Him. He doesn't want us to balance on the rope by ourselves; He only wants us to take the first step. He desires to show us how He will keep our feet planted on that path. He wants us to throw ourselves on His strength so that He can show us His marvelous strength and providence.

   A few days ago, I had a tightrope to walk. I was driving my car home, worrying about these circumstances beyond my control. My mind had been tossing this impossible circumstance around like a tennis player bouncing a ball off the wall. Every possible solution was exhausted and I was in tears. But I had come to the point where I was exhausted by my fears. I decided that I could not deal with this problem in my own strength.

   Ok, God. You have to do this. I will trust you. I will!

   The circumstance was still before me, stretched like a tightrope. Nothing had changed except that now I had the peace and trust to walk it. God is holding me up, and I can take the steps necessary to pass over this precarious path.

   When we abandon our own fears and apprehensions, then God can show us a strength beyond ourselves. Don't sit on that platform. Decide that even though the height is immense, the path is precarious, and your strength is not enough, you will walk. You will trust God.