“But what about snakes?”
“Mosquitos? Germs? You may fall! You could get hurt! You don’t know what’s lurking in that dark hole you are sticking your face in!”
These are some of the things that came out of my mouth as my boys and I were walking yesterday. You see, I’m not an adventurous person. And real nature and I are still getting to know each other even at almost 40. And I have, in my short 7 years of parenting, acquired quite a few auto warnings that come right out of my mouth without thinking…
But my twins? They are adventurous. They have no fear. And they have an answer for every one of my concerns… “Don’t worry mom, I don’t see any snakes… And bugs, how much can they do to me, really? Why are you worried about germs? We’ve touched a lot of random things out here and we are fine… see? Watch us touch our face and lick our hands clean. And as for falling, well we aren’t falling now… So see, you don’t need to worry. And why are you scared of what lurks in this dark hole? If you want, we will climb all the way in and show you it’s ok.”
Yesterday, they got right up next to this creek that runs through our neighborhood. And for a moment, I paused all my warnings and just watched them. They stared at the water with curiosity and excitement… and then, they both turned to me and said “Mom, I wonder what it looks like from the other side?”
I told them we were moving on. We had to keep walking because the sun was hot and our time was short, but they planted their feet. They stood and discussed all the ways they could get from this side to the other. They could take the long way and walk to the creek’s end, turn over the edge and walk back to this spot. Or maybe they could build a bridge of sticks to carefully walk over the top. And, of course, their favorite – “Mom, we could just jump. It’s not that far to the other side of this.”
This morning as I look back at this photo of them and turn their words around in my head, I’m wondering – What leap is God inviting me take today? And can I have a little faith that it’s not that far to the other side – the side of communion, the side of love.
