It Was Just A Slide

Recently we were at a birthday for some friends of ours and at the church there were a few slides for the kids. The shorter one Mazy went down right away, as long as I was right there to catch her at the bottom. It was just a straight down slide; nothing fancy.

Then there was the “big” slide. Mazy would look at it each time she went down the smaller one, but always bypassed the second step up, ignoring what was to the left. If she ignored it, maybe it would go away, right? Then I decided to push her a little bit. The next time she went up to the smaller slide, I asked if she wanted to try the “big” slide. She looked at me and said “MOMMY!” To her, it was this big and scary slide that had unknowns. There was a small turn so you could not see the bottom. Mazy probably wondered where it would take her?

I repeatedly told her I would be on the other end to catch her, though you could see the fear in her eyes. Then all of a sudden, she went up that second step, and plopped down on the edge. She looked at me as if to say, “you better be there to catch me!” I quickly ran around to the bottom and looked up into the slide.

I could see this HUGE smile on her face. She knew she was big stuff. She knew she could do it. Then all of a sudden, she let go.

Her hair went flying up, her feet couldn’t stop her, and she slid down to the end, into her mama’s arms.

“Big slide, FUN!” Mazy ran back to the steps and continually went up that second step the rest of the afternoon.

Little did Mazy know that she challenged her mama to live the same way. How often do you feel the nudge from God to step out in faith? To take one more step? To plop down, let go, and just enjoy the ride? Knowing that God will catch you? In fact, He’s the one who paved the path – who created that “slide” of life for us to journey on. But how often do we stop dead in our tracks, not wanting to walk the road full of unknowns?

That is where trusting God makes all the difference. Many times in our life, there have been many unknowns. Roads that didn’t always make sense at the time, but God is always in the business of working for the good. And that is something Dan and I could testify about over and over again. The “slide” of life might have a lot of twists and turns, but God is always and I mean ALWAYS looking up that slide, ready to catch us. We just have to keep our eyes on Him.

It was a simple lesson, but a moment I won’t soon forget. To watch Mazy smile and shriek with excitement, challenged me to do this same, as we follow God’s will. If only I had the same child-like faith that Mazy had, as she looked down, knowing I was always there. May we too, always look to God with that same faith.