Taking a Chance!

I will never forget the first tree I climbed at the age of 8. It was the kind of tree that had been there as a first for many-o-climbers before me I'm sure! Previously I had known this very tree as the tree for the "Big Kids." That knowledge had squelched any notion of climbing the tree. It was big, it was high up and as an adult looking back...I shudder at what could have happened with one wrong step! My sister and I were in the habit of riding our bikes to that part of the neighborhood and so I became evermore the aware of this challenge. I remember looking at it one Saturday morning and thinking..."I'm gonna climb this tree!" So, with my sister Sue and other friends in tote, I decided to go for it. I remember looking at the mammoth tower and not knowing my strategy. I had thrown caution to the wind and hooked my arms around the base of the trunk and hoisted myself up to the first branch! I recall looking down profoundly amazed and frightened that I had gotten myself into this,I had two choices; figure out how to get down which admittedly was going to be much more tricky than going up...or keep pressing on to the top and deal with the quandary of making it down in one piece after a momentous victory! I chose the latter. I made my way from branch to branch with the sounds of squealing encouragement from my gal pals down below. By the time I had made my way half way up the tree, quite the crowd of boys and girls alike had gathered. Some out of genuine concern and some out of pure curiosity as to how this lil gal was gonna manage the dissent. I made it to the top and poked my head through the tufts of leaves and there bestowed the most incredible view of my neighborhood! I had never known that the culminations of all the streets I had ridden my bike on or walked came together in such a satisfying maze of freshness! I sat there unaware of any judgments or chastisements awaiting me upon my dissent. I had even forgone the reality of knowing my sister was inevitably going to tell my mom what I did. I reveled. I took it all in and as a result... I had a vision in my mind that would forever change my perspective of my home. I would never ride my bike the same, I would never look at the streets the same in our family car. I would remember my tree top experience almost daily after that. Although eventually, the climb to the top of the tree became a regular part of my park adventures...I would always be reverent of my first climb because it meant more than all the other subsequent climbs.

Interestingly, when I was struck with my two options, I wasn't somehow inhibited by a fear of failure, rather I was confronted with either going back down, pride intact, but without the experience of knowing the view from the top of the tree and that somehow was not an option. It was the potential of seeing a magnificent view, a different view from the everyday that motivated me. I wanted to look out and see my neighborhood and beyond. There is a sense of accomplishment in that...thus the multitude of analogies of getting to the top. There is indeed something to it. The problem is that as an adult, we forget the precarious balance that lies within the difference between "getting to the top" born out of insecurity, irrational fear or pride and the "getting to the top" born out of the perpetual opportunity for life altering experiences and encouraging pushes for the unknown in a manner that adds richness to one's life experience. Whenever I am prone to pursue things motivated out of fear of obsoleteness, When I am tempted to allow the temperature of the current trends of this world to dictate my response to it, I stop and I remember the innocence in what motivated me as a child. I'm reminded of Jesus's many illustrations and exhortations to being childlike in our faith and our approach to him in life. May these verses from the precious lips of our Savior encourage you to live faithfully to him with the ambition of a fearless child that does not prize glory but new heights in Jesus. May your faith be like that of a child, for his is the kingdom of God!

"I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like a child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea." Matthew 18:3-6

"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them." Mark 10:14-16

"An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest. Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him. Then he said to them, 'Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me;and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all-he is the greatest'." Luke 9:46-48