Cliff Jumping and Water Walking

By Makenzie Allen –

Heart in my mouth, I look at the hills covered with shaggy pine trees then down at the swimmers who’d already jumped into water below the cliff. I’d just had a conversation with my cousin. “Without muscles we’d die, even our heart is a muscle,” he said. Instead of muscle, my heart feels like a mini roller coaster at a tacky carnival. I suck air through my clenched teeth and sentimentally gaze at the landscape before me, and then force my eyes downward. Just as I’m coercing my heart to vacate my throat and return to its rightful place in the circulatory system, I think of faith. Could I have enough faith to hear the Lord and jump because I know it’s a cliff I must overcome? My commanding muscle, the brain, finally takes control and forces my legs into action. Fear leaves the pit of my stomach as my feet leave the rocky ledge.

For a brief moment, I feel like I’m never going to land. The air tugs at my hair and leaves my body feeling oddly suspended. Then, in an instant, I am embraced by the cool water and let my body float in its depths. Excitement shivers through me as I relive the feeling of falling. Then I swim towards the glassy surface and breathe in the fresh smell of the woods surrounding.

Before I jumped, my cousin had been trying to decide whether to jump. Something he said made me smile with its conciseness. “There are just too many worries.” There were worries when I stood on the cliff, and there are worries now, as I sit and write. But there don’t have to be.

I know this is a time of the Lord growing my faith. I believe in Him with my entire heart, but I’m still trying to learn to place my whole life in His hands. Like Peter, he knew Jesus was waiting for him as he walked on the water, but Peter was too afraid of the howling winds he had to cross through to get to Jesus. I am afraid of the things that block my path to Him, and I don’t want that fear to cause me to sink. I’m so thankful the Lord doesn’t give up on me in my weakness, but rather teaches me how to overcome these stormy trials.

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” John 14:27 (KJV).

I can picture it in my mind, Jesus speaking those words, holding out His arms, and waiting for me across the expanse of raging waters. That’s where I’m at, walking on water towards my Lord. All that’s left to do is accept the peace He brings and dwell under the shadow of His wings.