Life on the Edge

  I read a book by Kim Thomas entitled LIVING IN THE SACRED NOW.  It was a good book that chaptered out the in betweens of life.  Kim compares the difference in everyday life such as, between Naked and Clothed, between Water and Wine,  Want and Wholeness, Despair and Hope.  In the very beginning she states, “there is no room for halfway commitment or apathetic involvement.”  She is referring to the act of a flying trapeze and the amazement that she receives in the death defying acts of swinging from one bar to the next without any attachment and sometimes nothing below.  In that brief moment the trapeze artist is living in trust and faith that they will have all it takes to grab hold of the bar in front of them, avoiding the uncertain fall of failure and perhaps death. 

Kim compares life’s everyday differences or in-betweens to see the light of God’s provision in the most basic and most challenging of moments.  My favorite passage in the whole book comes down to one specific paragraph that states:

            “I can see the next trapeze bar I am to jump toward in my life, but timing is everything.  If I let go and reach for the next one too soon, I will fall.  If I wait too long, my chance is passed.  But in the time between this trapeze bar and the next, there is a leap of faith that will set me flying.”

Have you ever known someone that seems to know the timing of this act perfectly?  They are confident, true, they know exactly what to do and when to do it?  Yeah, that person is not me! I so wish I was, though.  They seem to go about these in between circumstances in life with such grace and faith.  Instead, I always feel that I am going to miss the mark.  In fact, usually I sit waiting for the right timing to be so clear that I watch it go right by me, only to live in regret ever after!  All I can manage to do now is pray that God will not let me miss my mark. 

Sometimes you don’t always know exactly what to expect next.  You just know something is coming.  For me, all of these times are more like living on the edge, knowing that it takes more than myself to make it through and that all of it lies in the palm of HIS hands.  Those same nail scarred hands that bear the mark of His love and faith in me.