{Be Real} Free Falling

This is the time of year that captures my heart; the time when the pumpkin spice lattes brew and I take my scarves out of my closet and watch in awe as the leaves change outside from green to orange; an orange that blazes against the blue skies. There is always one tree in my neighborhood that turns before all the others; it’s as if it has the secret and knows what’s coming.

There is one scene in fall that my heart holds tenderly. On peak fall weekend, I love to be outside when a fresh wind blows and the leaves fall off the trees together. I watch as they float all around me, in a graceful movement down, down, down. How they flutter from side to side, how they let gravity take them gently to the ground.

I’m in awe of the leaves gently falling.

I hold my breath for one holy minute, as they are suspended in mid-air, surrendered to gravity or wind, and in that surrender they fall gracefully.

How I wish the heart was more like this; how I wish we could learn to fall gently too.

When God asks me to surrender, the first thing I often do is fight Him. I know this way all too well.

God, I can reason my way through this one on my own…just give me more time. And God, how do I know I can trust you in this? What if this ends in failure? What if I land in the wrong place?

I confess; I try and figure out all the details without God. I try and understand my heart completely before I go to Him. This mental exercise is the opposite of a free fall. It’s the opposite of living free.

Here’s the freeing truth today: God doesn’t ask you to know the ins and outs of how it will end – or even to know all the ins and outs of your heart. He asks you to know Him.

“Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this – that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”

-Jeremiah 9:23-24

When we know who He is, and who we are; it makes our posture right. It humbles us. It helps us to stop being our own gods and to bow our knee to the only one who is God.

Humbly, we can see clearly. We are the leaves; fragile, human. He is the wind; carrying us, directing us.

Perhaps the most beautiful thing to our God is a heart that is humbled before Him. A heart that submits to Him and is ready to be carried wherever he leads.

“ ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’
Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,
that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him,
for He cares for you.”
-1 Peter 5:6-7

Surrender is a vulnerable place. It’s hard to say, God, here is my plan. Here is my heart. Carry me. I want what you want, God. And even if I don’t know how it will all end, I trust you more than I trust myself.

But a leaf floating freely in mid-air is no longer attached to the tree. For us to have freedom in surrender, we have to detach from our own ideas, our own plans, and where we get our security.

This detachment doesn’t happen all at once, but it’s a daily choice to lay down whatever takes the place of God in our hearts. It’s a daily choice to say God, you be my God instead of this.

On this beautiful morning at the start of fall, I ask God, show us our hearts, humble us before you, show us what has taken your place. And help us to let it go. Give us freedom in this surrender.

The brave ones know it; the ones who have examined their hearts and let go of their plans and humbled before the one and only God. Even if they’re falling, even if they don’t know the way, they know they will never land in the wrong place.

They fall gently.
We can fall gently.

Because we never land in the wrong place when we are landing in God.

“The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.”
-Deuteronomy 33:27

Wherever you are, underneath is always the everlasting arms. So today we can give up the fight, and get down on our knees.

When God is pulling us, down into Him, there’s no safer place to fall.

 

“The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord,
And He delights in his way.
Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down;
For the Lord upholds him with His hand.”

-Psalm 37:23-24

Image Credit: Aida Krgin Photography