Trust Fall

I love our family dance parties. Everyone- even the dog- gets involved. The most extreme dance offs occur when my kids are with their three cousins— most recently this happened at Christmas, new toy disco lights flashing, with the same three bars of techno music on repeat. 

“Epic,” I think the kids call it. But something little happened that’s continued to grow weighty on my mind.  

My five-year-old, larger than life personalitied niece suddenly shouts out, “TRUST FALL!” and in seconds, her eyes are closed and she’s half falling, half flinging herself backwards (in the direction of the stone fireplace, no less).

I don’t remember if it was her older brother or sister (or maybe both?) who caught her, but after I’d recovered from my heart stopping for a split second, I too was flinging myself in her direction and saw that my husband was ready to do the same.

You crazy kid, never scare me like that again! 

But... if one of her siblings hadn’t caught her, the other was ready. And if not one of them, her aunt, or uncle, or mother had all ceased dancing and were ready to catch that crazy kid. The scenarios, “what if no one catches me? What if I get hurt? What if I end up spending my vacation in the ER getting stitches?” truly were not even in that little head as possibilities. 

She knew beyond the shadow of a doubt, someone in that room would catch her. 

“Trust fall.”

True childlike faith. 

Absolute faith, absolute trust.

I think what makes the trust so absolute for a child is complete absence of doubt. 

At some point, this shifts, and shadows enter their world- but for a few blissful years, there’s a beautiful absolution of trust. 

My 16 month old son will dive headfirst off of anything- because he’s a daredevil offspring of his father with zero sense of danger, but also because he implicitly knows mommy or daddy will be there to catch him. And if he does get a little banged up- mommy will take care of him. It kills me that the world is starting to lose complete innocence for my four year old; there are scary things we face and discuss now; but even so, childlike faith wins. If she wakes afraid in the night and calls out for mommy or daddy, she knows with 100% certainty that comfort will arrive at her bedside. 

Remember learning those “if=>then” statements way back in school? It sounds a little “duh” here stated so plainly, but if I could reach into my child’s mind and help cognitively process this all:

“IF my parents love me and I belong to them, in their care; THEN I can trust them implicitly.”

And they do; for those precious few golden years until they realize the world is flawed and their parents are, too. 

But our Heavenly Father is not. 

He is altogether perfect, and we belong to Him, and are in His care. 

Do you need to “Trust Fall?” 

Is there an uncertainty in your life, an unknown situation, or something you’re holding onto? Or a leap of faith you need to take?

Sometimes we hold onto things in this world so tightly, hesitating to hand them over to our Heavenly Father, when in reality it’s all His to begin with and He’s the one who’s temporarily entrusted us with it all for a short time. 

Let’s not forget the words of Jesus in Matthew 18:3-

“Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

I can still see her confident, smiling little face; her eyes tightly pinched shut as her little body flung backward shouting those two words... 

“Trust fall!”

Someday, I’ll tell that little human just how meaningful her adrenaline inducing antics were to me. 

For now, be assured- “He will not let your foot slip; He who watches over you will not slumber (Psalm 121:3).”

And, “...Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are Mine. (Isaiah 43:1)”

After all, a Trust Fall suddenly doesn’t seem so scary when you realize you’re already being held in the Maker’s hand.