Falling in Faith

I have to admit that worry tugged at my heartstrings as my two year old host sister dragged mat what felt like breakneck speed down the narrow rocky path leading from our house to the road. Twilight was falling on the already gray day. It had been raining all day making the path slippery. The steep walk way was treacherous even in the daylight and drier conditions, but my miniature princess was oblivious to the sliding rock sand shards of glass beneath the pounding of her bare feet. I grimaced at the thought of slipping and mudding another pair of shorts or scraping my already scratched legs and arms. Even worse what if I flipped over the top of her tiny head and dragged us both to the bottom?! My mind was focused on all these "what ifs" and worst case scenarios, and then as we neared the bottom of our steep a Bible vs. filled with irony popped into my head, "A child shall lead them." {Isaiah 11:6} A wry smile parted my lips as I reflected on yet another vs. "Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." {Matt. 18:3}I desperately wished that my already bruised and scratched legs were faster and my head closer to the ground as my chubby little sister's legs beat out a steady rhythm on the slightly less steep path. Maybe then I would be less afraid of the rocky ground. But I realized that this is how God wants us to love others and Himself, with wild, reckless abandon. Brittany had no thought of what might happen if she took a tumble down the incline. Or if she was contemplating the possibility of any broken bones she hid it behind her delighted little giggle. How said is it that often we grown up into ancient 21 year olds in a spiritual sense and begin to mistrust ourselves and our God and worry about falling and stumbling that we forget that He will never allow us to stumble, just as I gripped Brittany's hand tightly, ready, willing, and able to save her should she need me to. I sat at the bottom of the hill watching my siblings play soccer and wondered at what point in my spiritual journey did I become so obsessed with my bumps and bruises of sing that made me inch my way gingerly toward God, instead of throwing caution to the wind and plunging headfirst towards God confident in my steps, and assured of my destination. Ah so many lessons to be learned from my little sister who can't even speak my language. Brittany, I'm praying to have my 2 year old faith returned to me.