Have tried hanging from a zip line before?!!
It is a daring activity especially if you are scared of heights and the initial drop is usually the hardest. My mom was saying she’ll report me to my dad. My aunt said she saw my pictures and was hoping I was alright. 39% of people on my Instagram said they couldn’t do it. Some friends personally messaged me to congratulate me on being brave.
The most important thing is knowing that you are secure. You only get scared if you feel you are going to fall. But you aren’t actually going to fall because you are securely fastened to the line. So you can dangle if you want and sit comfortably in your belt.
The amazing thing is that although knowing this at the back of my mind. I still freaked out at some of the hurdles I had to get through. I still held on so tight to the reins such that when I woke up the next morning my back and arms hurt so bad like I had done a proper workout.
I knew I was not going to fall but I felt I needed so much power to support myself and prevent that from happening.
Bringing this back home, there are times knowing full well that God has got us, we feel we need to add in some extra effort to make it through. Definitely, we have to work hard to get through the hurdles but at the end of the day its all by the grace of God.
Paul puts it this way:
But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me–and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace. 1 Corinthians 15:10 NLT
I definitely cannot fly. I don’t think my body mass can suspend a natural float. But with the harness attached to my waist, I could glide effortlessly, feel the wind through my hair and be without fear of falling. I could do what would otherwise have been impossible by my strength.
Image modification from GB Hart- Prickly Heart
In the image above. Paul mentions the word ‘through.’ This signifies, something moving in and out. Sometimes our hearts are so guarded that the power of Christ cannot even make its way through us.
This imagery of a thorny heart has been on my heart for a while and I have been waiting for expression. For me, it illustrates a heart that has adapted to protect itself because of the circumstances and conditions, creating a fearless illusion and instead illuminating a life that should be feared. A heart that is not just keeping stuff out, but also keeping stuff in. Things that need to find expression to liberate us or to bless others are trapped by the selfish cage around our heart.
The power of Christ is manifested through his word. But this word has no place to rest because when it falls on the pines of our faithless heart and it becomes choked up.
We have also trapped ourselves in the cage with the assumption that we will be fine on our own. Well, self-sufficiency can only leave us more and more hungry for more.
Because if we keep taking from ourselves, we’ll soon become empty because we have nothing else we draw from.
While some draw from the world or from others the best place for us to draw from is from God. Because only him can satisfy us the way no man or anything can.
He’s the only one that blesses us and gives us peace and joy at the same time.
Sometimes we have to experience times of weakness to identify the state we are in and surrender to the power of the Holy Spirit. Then we can glory in our weakness. We can overlook the hurts, the hurdles, and the challenges.
We know that we can rest securely in harness of God’s love and his power.
Even while we do our part by working, being faithful, sharing and loving we know that the reward is not dependent on our slip-ups. Our reward has already been prepared.
When we finished the last zip line task, my friends and I were given a certificate of completion.
No one asked if we cried along the way, nearly screamed our heads off or could not complete some tasks. The main thing was that we made it.
demiladeayo 