One Step.
Have you seen the Skywalk? No? Oh. Well, have a look:
The mind boggles. The stomach implodes. …And since my name is neither Luke nor Leia, I don’t even have the siren call of The Pun to coax me out on that there glass plank. (Get it? …”Skywalker”…)
Look at those people hanging out, shooting the breeze, chatting like there’s not a giant chasm of nothingness below them.
No big deal.
Surely they don’t see what’s down there. Surely if they did– and I paraphrase–
running amok and screaming, not conversation, would be the order of the day.
Yesterday, I had a fleeting moment of giant-chasm-of-nothingness-ness in my life.
Do you ever have those? You’re walking along, you pause to take stock of your life, and suddenly you’re paralyzed.
“What?!” you cry.
{and by “you,” I mean… me.}
“How am I here?
What’s going to happen?
Why didn’t I panic before this?
What was I thinking, not panicking until now?
How am I going to–
How am I–
How?!”
The simple answer? You’re not.
He is.
The one who is mightier than the thunder of great waters…
The one who does exceedingly abundantly more than all we could ask or imagine…
He is.
He knows what He is about.
Settle ye down, thou winged fluttering stomach creatures.
Be still.
Like Peter, walking on the water and sinking when he lost sight of the One who called him…
redirect. Re-focus. Let Him catch you.
“Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.” Matthew 14:29-31
Keep your eyes on Him, not on the giant chasm of famished what-if’s yawning beneath you.
Keep your eyes on Him, and take the next step.
One step.
What’s that step look like for you today?
It is so easy to focus on the chasm of what-ifs. I can totally relate. A beautiful reminder to focus on Him.
My hubby and I are such opposites that if we went here, I’d be in the car, seat belted in with the doors locked and he’d be on that bridge acting out the most famous scene from titanic. Haha!
Joanne, I am so with you on that one! On middle school amusement park trips, I used to wait in line with my friends for rides, then skip out while they road the rollercoasters and wait for them at the ride exits.
Hello, Amanda! I’ve seen you name on other blogs and thought I’d stop by and say hi. What a great post – I’ve had those moments of open-chasm feelings, like the bottom has just dropped out unexpectedly. But I’ve discovered that the Rock of my Foundation is always beneath me, no matter what it looks like and I’ve had to lean on the Rock every day of my life. I remember once seeing Billy Graham at a conference and he said it took just as much faith to believe that the stage he was standing on would hold him up as it did to believe God was holding him up, as well. I’ve never forgotten. It truly is as simple as that, but I think we make it more complicated.
So happy to find you. 🙂
I’m such a dork (and embarassed) – no wonder I’ve seen your name around, I am already a follower! I need to subscribe to your RSS feed so I can see when you update your blog. 😉
Gabrielle, I’m so glad you stopped by! I just visitied your blog as well, and your farewell-to-the-house post tugged at my heart. I can so relate to those bittersweet moments in life. I love running into you around cyberspace! 🙂
Hi Amanda, I’m just now discovering your blog and yeah, I’m late to the game in responding to this post…but the timeliness of it is awesome to me. I end up in those “open chasm” moments more often than I’d like, when I seriously wonder, am I even coming close to living up to my purpose?
I love the phrase “be still” and I love that you included it here. Because in those moments, if I’ll just calm down, be still, look to Christ, I’ll find He never quits what He starts, He won’t leave my purpose untapped by his touch…
Melissa, so glad to have you! 🙂 Your words– “He never quits what He starts, He won’t leave my purpose untapped by His touch”– sing such strength, reassurance of His truth. He created us for specific purposes- we are His Workmanship, His Poema– ooh, I feel a blog post coming on. I’ll cut this short. 🙂 But truly, when we yield to Him, He will finish what He’s begun. Thank you for that reminder.