The Precipice

The Precipice on Your Path

It happens every August. Summer days wind down and new possibility looms largely in my mind.  Blame it on 18 years in formal education (plus many more in educating others), but August feels like a leap into something different.  

Don't get me wrong - I love change!  I crave new opportunities.  Just the ones that I can see coming, preferably new possibilities that I have helped to create.  So August gets me wired; God in his sovereignty usually sees fit to bring a precipice on my path. You know the kind-  it is vast and dramatic.  The kind you cannot see to the bottom of!?  It is scary!  Looking over a vast, open space brings out insecurities in me.  I would rather look behind me; it feels safer to look back.   I've gotten comfortable "here."  Out across the precipice - out "there" - it doesn't feel safe.  I cannot see where God is taking me.  And even if I have an inkling as to where he is taking me, I am still not quite confident in how exactly he will get me there.  

So this is where I am.  It's August, and God has brought me to yet another precipice.  I can see some glimpses of beauty out there, but a lot of shadows and rocky places, too.   My emotions tell me to turn around and go back.  They can be such pretty, little liars!  When I am feeling fearful or reluctant, it probably means I am looking to the wrong source of safety.  This can be a healthy kind of fear.  If I never step out to go "there," and take a leap of faith, I won't really know where I am placing my trust.   Moving to the edge of the precipice takes faith.  The object of my faith then, must be Rock-solid.