I Believe… I Can Fly!

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When you were little, didn’t you have great dreams? Great ambitions? Great hopes? The line blurs for a child, between “dull reality” and “vibrant creativity”, whether one sees a professional athlete, or astronaut, or the greatest singer EVER, or a knight in shining armor conquering dragons and saving those in distress!

But then, we grow up… We learn… There are limits to the possible. We learn to build our boxes. We learn the myriad of things we “cannot do”. We learn the bumps, the bruises, the batterings of the world and people around us. We learn… all there is… is this. Just little, dull, mundane, me… and you… and them… and this! (With a decidedly NOT “capital T” in “this”.)

But then, one incredible day, Jesus enters our own little, dull, mundane, me-and-you world. And He says things like… “To what shall I liken the Kingdom?” and somewhere, deep inside, there is a heart stirring… a tiny leap of hope… a whisper (too small, too timid, even to be fully “heard” or acknowledged, but still really there)… the child’s heart whisper of… “Maybe… just… maybe…” And old dreams, forgotten dreams of Kingdoms, and knights, and deeds of unrelenting courage and adventure rouse again deep inside…

Beyond this, on just as incredible a day,.. “At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, ‘Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?^‘ And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, ‘Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.’” [Matthew 18:1-4]

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What if….

What if your Father were King of the Universe?

What if He had crafted and designed you, from before the beginning of time, to live fully as Prince/Princess in Him, and your perquisites and authority came into play as you learned to embrace and wield them with grace, love, and wisdom?

What if all those “heroic dreams” of your childhood were not simply aspirations TO Him, but hints to your actual nature FROM Him?

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What if all the greatest dreams you ever dreamed were the barest inkling, just the slightest hints, of what you truly are and can embrace right here, right now?

Because… I have come to believe that all those dreams of greatness, heroism, adventure… are simply true. I believe I can fly. I believe I once allowed the truth of my humble childhood to be dashed and devastated by those around me who taught of limits, and boundaries, and boxes for Our Father and His embrace. That those same people BELIEVE in “limits”… that there’s only “so much to go around”, and that for ONE person to acknowledge the reality of Infinite Grace… that must somehow “diminish the availability” for others!

This was the error of the disciples noted above. This was what they needed to learn to “see another way”, to “be converted” from…

They wanted to know… “Who would be greatest in His Kingdom?” Because for the answer to be “ONE” of them… the answer could NOT be “ALL” of them.

Little children do not worry about such things. Little children don’t think such questions.

Little children just ask, “Am I? May I be? May I have?”

They haven’t yet learned the shrewd and measuring “sidelong look” at others around them, and begun the calculation that… “If He gives ME this… then THEY won’t get it!”

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Can you find and release your Inner Child?

Can you believe?

Can you fly?

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He only awaits your testing your wings, for He’s always holding us up, saying… “Trust Me.” We LIVE in the fullness of His Kingdom, called and equipped to rescue, to seek and save, that which is lost. The greatest adventure any can ever know!

Joy and grace to you!

The Little Monk

 

Cross the Mud Flats

Once upon a time, God’s children were enslaved, held captive, mistreated, beaten, abused, suffering, and taught to worship gods who were no gods. God heard their cries, remembered them with mercy, remembered His promises made to their ancestors, and raised up a leader for them to whom God said…

⁵ Furthermore I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant. ⁶ Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. ⁷ Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. [Exodus 6]

God then worked mighty signs in Egypt, affirming the authority of Moses to speak on behalf of God, and seeking to persuade Pharaoh to release God’s people. The last, tragic sign God was forced to use was the Death of the Firstborn… giving us the gift of the Passover, foreshadowing the grace of Christ in our own lives.

But AFTER that, God’s children had to move FORWARD. They were commanded to pack only what they could carry, and follow Moses forward from their “past” slavery, into their “future” claim of God’s promises.

As I, personally, have approached this New Year, Gentle Reader, this image has come to me time and time again.

What must it have been like to reach the western shores of the Red Sea, watch Moses part the waters, and then be ordered to walk down into that? I don’t know about you, Gentle Reader, but I am not a very brave person. I do not casually stroll down into mud flats, with 50 foot (or whatever) walls of seawater standing just to my left and my right. Quite suddenly, in those moments, standing on the safe shore with my family… Egyptian life may not have looked so bad to me.

Would I recount all that I had seen in recent days? The plagues of locusts and frogs? The turning of the Nile to blood? The wailing of the mothers in every house but our own? Would I have had the courage, Gentle Reader, to step down into those mud flats?

God had said, “Trust ME!”

Moses had echoed, “Trust HIM!”

So, I shall flatter myself that I would indeed, follow the throng safely across the seabed, and climb up safely on the other side. This would be a major milestone in my relationship with God. This would be a memorial forever between us, marking the day God brought me out of slavery, and into the freedom of His leadership and promise.

Throughout the Old Testament, God reminds His children of His rescue and tender care. When He gives Moses the Law… the Ten Commandments… to show His children how to live in covenant, in His very Presence, God’s first introduction is:

1 Then God spoke all these words, saying, ² “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. [Exodus 20}

Why honor God? Why obey His commandments? Why live life in sacredness and reverence?

When we ask this of Our Heavenly Father, He would be completely within His rights to say, “Because I am Almighty God, and I say so!” (Anyone else hear echoes of our parents here?)

But amazingly, He DOESN’T! Instead, time and time again, He answers THIS… this same reminder, this same revelation as when He carved Moses’ stone tablets.

He says, “Heed Me because I care for you, you belong to Me, and I rescue you from misery and suffering, setting you free from bindings and fetters! I will lead you from slavery and suffering into comfort, provision, and plenty. I will provide for you!”

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I’m not much for “Resolutions”, Gentle Reader. But I suppose if I made any at all, it would be just this one…

“I will dare to cross the Mud Flats, trusting to hold the hand of Our Magnificent God and Father. I will realize that my slavery, my sufferings, my fears and nightmares now lie behind me, in a past that can no longer reach me or affect me. I will realize that before me, in the future that God leads me into, there is His provision, His light, and His protection. He may well lead me through some wilderness to get there… but only to rid me, free me, of my ‘slave self’ habits and reflexes, that I walk into my own life of promise fresh, new, and ready for the adventure!”

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Walking through an ocean has to be terrifying, Gentle Reader. But will you dare to do it, today, with me?

Blessings and grace to thee and thine! Happy New Year… May you delight in your own coming adventure!