So you know that exercise that’s often done to demonstrate trust for a partner or friend where you fall back and (hopefully) they catch you? It’s sometimes called a “trust fall.” It’s pretty unnerving facing the other direction feeling nothing behind you, yet allowing yourself to tip backwards into emptiness. The anticipation of the feeling of their arms grabbing you out of the air is insane! In those couple of moments, all I can think about is how much it’s gonna totally stink if they step to the side and let me plummet to the earth!
As a kid, I remember my friends and I would ask each other, “do ya trust me?” before making each other prove it by doing this exercise. I had my share of being the prankster and moving out of the way as well as being the one picking myself up off the ground to chase the person who dropped me! But I think those brief moments of doubt are the point of the exercise. When they catch you and you’re safe in their arms, you remember why you should never have doubted they’d be there for you.
Okay, so what if your trusted partner misses? I mean, not on purpose. What if they genuinely tried to catch you and lost their balance or misjudged how far away you were? What if you came crashing down almost as hard as their spirit as they watched helplessly? Even though they didn’t mean to let you go (hopefully!), it could certainly happen. We are only human, right?
I want to fall. Not to the ground like the scenario above, obviously! But I want to feel that I can fall so hard, so far, so freely, eyes closed and arms way too wide to catch myself as even the air swiftly moves out of my way to let me go. The freedom of spreading my arms wide in surrender with no worries or concerns of what could happen next is precisely what I need when the pressure of life closes in. That pressure that can be so overwhelmingly intense that it squeezes until it crushes – those are the times we most desperately need to be able to fall.
God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Psalm 46:5
Most of us have at least one or maybe even two people in our lives who we’re pretty confident would be there with open arms should we fall. That’s a wonderful thing if we have that, and they should be cherished for the loyalty they’ve shown to us. As sincere as they are, not a single one of them could guarantee without a shadow of a doubt that they’d never, ever drop us.
Obviously that usually has nothing to do with their devotion to us but, instead, has everything to do with the inevitable destiny of man to just fail sometimes. It can be so sad and painful when we do, too. But thank God for a Savior who didn’t fail. Thank God for the One who never will.
I was pushed back and about to fall, but the Lord helped me. Psalm 118:13
Thank God that we can free fall knowing that He is behind us standing strong. We can free fall deeply in love with Him with never a hint of fear of rejection and lean on Him in trouble with no worries of being judged. We can free fall so far knowing that before we ever reach the bottom, He already has a perfect plan to lift us up again. How does the saying go? “The bigger the giant, the harder the fall” or some variation of that, right? In our world as followers of Christ, we can rest assured that the harder we fall, the bigger He is as we spread our arms wide and surrender to His power to be made perfect in our weakness.
…My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9
The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. Psalm 145:14
A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. Isaiah 42:3
Living - Phenomenally. 
