Don’t fall, jump.

Heard a quote similar to that in a book I’d just read for the second time – Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey. It genuinely struck me when I read it, one of those “aha!” moments which seems to explain something that I’d been chewing on in the back of my ever-caffeinated 40 year old mind. Don’t fall, jump.

Nature is all about falling, after all the very force of gravity that is exerted on us is something completely beyond our control. When we fall, all we can do is ready ourselves for the eventual impact with the ground below and ideally avoid a recurrence of the actions and/or behavior which led to the inevitable fall.

Now jumping… Jumping is a decision. Jumping is not nature beyond the flesh, muscle and bones that God gave us which allow us to jump. Jumping always includes falling, however there’s an asterisk to that action we have just taken – we are taking a chance to embrace our own destiny, to embrace the will that God has woven through every breath we take.

Some folks would rather fall than jump. Can’t blame me, it’s nature that I fell. I can’t control gravity. I am blameless here, faultless, powers greater than myself were in control and threw me down to a predictable and to some people – acceptable – conclusion. Whether I take a risk or not, I still fall, so why bother taking the chance? Why risk falling further by jumping?

For most of my life I was a fall instead of jump sort of guy. I’d rather predictably fall flat on my face again and again and pull that warm blanket of misery up to my chin as I curl up safe, sound, and secure in the knowledge that while I have gained nothing, I have lost nothing, and the status quo of my life was maintained. Anhedonia. What a joy that was to deal with.

Eventually I got tired of falling. The status quo was beneath me. The status quo left me broken and alone. Warm and safe? Sure. But there was an entire world spinning around me and it had absolutely no clue or care who I was. So I started jumping. I jumped to a new job. I leapt towards faith in God. I flew on down to Georgia where I knew no-one and nothing.

When we yield control of our lives to nature, nature takes control. When we yield control of our lives to Christ, Christ takes control. The difference? God gave us the ability to jump. He gave us the free will to take chances, to grow, to climb, to throw off that warm blanket of misery and jump into the unknown, secured by our faith in the promise of Christ.

So here I am, faithful, joyful, and happy. I still fall, but when I do it’s because I’ve jumped.

Up, up, and away my friends. God bless!