FALLING BACKWARD
She was getting frustrated with him. He wanted to cooperate, but something inside of him was warning him not to. “You keep putting your foot back! Don’t put your foot back!” She yelled at him. She was getting furious with her little brother and was beyond angry that her little brother who probably weighed all of forty pounds wouldn’t trust her. After all, she did out weigh him by at least fifteen pounds! What’s not to trust?
As I exited the store the two kids were blocking foot traffic playing the game of trust. The brown eyed and headed domineering big sister would stand behind her little brother in her Sunday best and urging the equally well-dressed with-matching-eyes-little-brother into falling backward into her outstretched arms.
As I stepped around them she began to coach him again, “Okay, I’m ready!” As the little boy began to fall back I saw his right foot shoot back to protect him in case his big sister couldn’t catch him. She screamed, “You did it again! You keep putting your foot back!” The little boy just smiled as his sister physically turned him around to try again. She wasn’t giving up. I glanced back as I moved past them on the crowded sidewalk. That’s a battle she wasn’t going to win…
I thought about those type of times with my siblings as a kid. I never trusted my sibling completely either. Maybe it was instinct or maybe she’s betrayed his trust. Either way, that kid couldn’t do it.
My brothers stood beside my dad’s old work truck with their friends. Being somewhat of a contortionist, my brothers bragged, “Floyd can fit into this tool box!” It was one of those small, square, tool boxes that mounted underneath the flatbed of a pick-up truck just in front of the back wheels.
As soon as I had pulled, twisted, contorted, and made my way in, “Bam!” They shut and locked the door… That was the last time I was that gullible to trust them when we were kids.
Human beings are born with instinct, but also intelligence. We inherently want to trust our loved ones. The problem I think in our fallen world is that since none of us is perfect, we’re going to let others down. We’re going to drop them on the sidewalk – flat on their backs and heads, even when we don’t want to.
We want to catch and protect our loved ones, but we don’t always perform up to our desires and standards or who we want to be. We’re just like the little girl who wants to be trusted. We want to be trust worthy and we get our feelings pushed out of place when we’re not.
We’re also like the little brother who wants badly to trust, but know deep inside there’s a good chance we’re going to get hurt. As we get older it’s not as much physically as it is emotionally. For those of us who know the truth, we know that only our Father is perfectly trustworthy. Only the Creator and sustainer of the cosmos and all that’s in it is above the physical laws of it.
I’ve been dropped… and I’ve done my share of dropping… I’m not putting my faith in mankind alone. I trust my Father first and the discernment He grants. When my Father urges me to fall backward – I’m closing my eyes and throwing my arms out to the side and smile wide as I fall into the perfect hands of my Father. I’m confident He will never forsake or drop me…
At the risk of sounding like an insurance commercial… I have to ask;
“Are you in Good hands?”
Sunday, January 27, 2013 @ 10:54 pm
These kids wanted to believe in themselves and the girl thought she could handle the weight. However the boy had the back up plan to put one foot back.
We must realize that as humans we might just not always catch someone who is ready to fall. We want to very much, but the strength might not be there.
Over time, we do learn to NOT trust those humans who tell us “Trust Me.” Thus we learn life’s lessons by experience. Actually I have been fooled and lied to by experts when at first I believed them. After time passed, (and it took me awhile) I did learn to examine first the facts.
Then again on the other hand, we trust everyday to safely drive our car, to sit in a chair, to walk down the lane, to open our door to the world – – Just don’t trust someone to catch you if you fall back.
I do know we can safely place our trust in God, and in His Word.
Thank you for sharing this on “Tell Me a Story” the site will open Monday evening.
Monday, January 28, 2013 @ 6:26 pm
Great point, Hazel. In some cases society has made us have to have faith or at least endure the risk. You always see a intriguing perspective… Oh to be in the arms of our Father! Thanks for letting me share this at your wonderful site, “Tell Me A Story!”
Monday, January 28, 2013 @ 3:38 am
I was the older one so never really had to concern myself with siblings. It was adults and my peers I had to learn to trust. Nope. I have learned to become careful whom I trust. I have also learned there is ONE whom I can trust completely.
Monday, January 28, 2013 @ 6:30 pm
Amen, Bill. When the Father says “I got you, son or daughter,” He means it! And backward we go! I too have learned that lesson, what a great lesson and truth it is. Thanks, Bill.
Monday, January 28, 2013 @ 6:26 am
You have a great way of weaving stories into your post, Floyd. I enjoy them. I just posted something today, and I put “Faith in others” before “Faith in God,” in regards to overcoming fear. It’s not that I don’t put faith in God first, but when we are in a dire position, sometimes we need our fellow humans to pull us up enough to seek God.
Monday, January 28, 2013 @ 6:28 am
By the way, I got your email about my book, but still need to read and respond. I appreciate your feedback and encouragement.
Monday, January 28, 2013 @ 6:33 pm
Your book is a home run, Dan. Can’t wait to discuss it in more detail with you and will be featuring it. It’s real. God uses real…
Monday, January 28, 2013 @ 6:31 pm
That’s a great point, Dan. In fact He can use the hands of anyone to do His perfect will. Great perspective. We just have to be in His will to be able to discern the ones He’s appointed to help us. Great call, Dan. Thanks.
Monday, January 28, 2013 @ 7:41 am
Boy! If I was to recount all the times I have trusted in ‘my fellow man’, only to be dropped flat on my back! At this stage in my life, I finally ‘get it’ that there really IS only ONE I should truly trust. I am way more cautious than I used to be. That comes from years of experience. I have ‘learned-to-discern’ who the trustworthy really are, and even then, I am cautious. I don’t always trust MY OWN judgement.
To be fair, I have ‘let others fall’ without reaching out to catch them…to my shame. We are, all of us, ‘fallen’ human beings. Thank God indeed that there is redemption for that fallen-ness.
Monday, January 28, 2013 @ 6:35 pm
Amen, Jillie. Your in good company… Well at least company! We are all fallen and I think God uses the drops in life to teach us that only He is sovereign and the creator of not only the cosmos, but also the blessed things of His love that encompass that wonderful redemption… Great call! Thanks, Jillie.
Monday, January 28, 2013 @ 7:51 am
Trust is such a hard thing and it seems to only get harder the older we get. I’m in “Good Hands”. The hands of the Father have never let me fall (nor have they shoved my head in the toilet the way my sister’s did) but I still resist completely trusting at times.
Often I THINK I’m trusting, only to realize I’m not. (God does slap some sense into me from time to time…I need it!)
Monday, January 28, 2013 @ 6:36 pm
I don’t feel so alone now, TC! I too am in not just good hands, but The hands… How cool is that! It boggles the mind and soul and brings peace to ponder it. Thanks, TC.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013 @ 5:01 am
Floyd, I thought you were going to say you don’t feel so alone because you got your head shoved in a toilet too!
Wednesday, January 30, 2013 @ 6:56 am
I guess I did a few times… Man oh man, we could share some stories! That wasn’t the worst of what I got! Then again, I learned how to fight back my way… Not good! Don’t feel left out! I had a few dunk sessions!
Monday, January 28, 2013 @ 9:57 am
Praise God for his trustworthiness! If I didn’t have at least one person who I could trust not to fail me, I would have fallen apart long ago.
Monday, January 28, 2013 @ 6:37 pm
I think we all would have, April! Praise God indeed. That’s exactly what we should do and receive the blessing and peace that accompany that truth. Nice call! Thanks, April!
Monday, January 28, 2013 @ 4:18 pm
I am in good hands. 🙂 As for the game of trust when I was a kid, my brother and our friends would talk you into doing that and then step out of the way and let you drop for a laugh. Trust doesn’t come easy for me. I know lots of people, but call very few of them friends. The nice thing is I can always trust God.
Monday, January 28, 2013 @ 6:40 pm
Mike! I just remembered crouching behind someone at school and having someone push them backward over me! Sometimes I’d do the pushing and even on occasion got pushed! I forgot about that until you shared that! Man, we are cut from the same mold! I’m with you on the few friends and the only trust that matters! Thanks, Mike! I think… Remembering my short comings isn’t making me feel any better about myself!
Monday, January 28, 2013 @ 6:54 pm
What an awesome post. Always enjoy your writing.
That’s a bright little boy. My sister and I weren’t as bright when we were kids. We had an older brother (by 4 years) who, I suspect, believed that my sister and I were God’s provision (as in guinea pigs) for his ‘experiments’. We fell for each one of them! (he’s now doing life time penance – he’s a catholic priest! 🙂 )
Thanks for the story and lesson.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013 @ 6:48 am
Too funny! Your brother can’t be all bad! Or at least the guilt took him to an admirable place! Thanks, Ngina. I enjoy learning more about you and your family. Seems we share the path of guinea pigs in common!
Monday, January 28, 2013 @ 8:04 pm
I’m also dealing with trust issues in the homeless community. Some you can trust with your life, and others…well…I pray much at the bridge! Pray to the one who catches me all the time. Yes, I’m in good hands
Just a funny side note(your tool box story reminded me of this)…when my siblings and cousins were little, we gathered on our grandparents farm every summer and had the best time. One night the older ones decided to put my brother INSIDE the sofa bed. They closed it up with him inside! They did this to scare my cousin, who was suppose to pull out the bed at night and he would scream at her scaring her to death. But me, the youngest, couldn’t quit giggling and she knew something was up. He still scared her and I got in trouble for giggling. It was still funny:)
Tuesday, January 29, 2013 @ 6:50 am
Those stories from childhood are the best! The simple events from our childhood give us so much more character I think. I love that story. I too struggle to keep a juicy secret! We are in good Hands… Thanks, Kristin.
Monday, January 28, 2013 @ 8:17 pm
I love this post for it reminded me of my favorite book, Strong Women, Soft Hearts by Paula Rinehart. One chapture is titled, “The Art of Falling Backwards.”
C.S. Lewis says, The thing is to rely only on God. The time will come when you will regard all this misery as a small price to pay for having been brought to that dependance. Meanwhile, the trouble is that relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing has yet been done. (New mercy for everyday).
Your line, “I’ve been dropped and done my share of dropping fits all of us.
Another quote from the book by Paula…she says it so much better then me.
“Between your longings and the demand for their fulfillment is a place as real as any in the tangible world. But it is uncharted and uniquely tailored to your own personal story. You will only know you are there when you feel a little on edge of your chair and you strangly at peace. Getting there, sometimes, feels like a miracle itself, It is the place of trust.
Trust hangs somewhere between knowing what your heart longs for and trying to dictate the shape or timing or outcome of your heart’s desire. It lies in the willingness to accept the particular of how and when and where God chooses to intervene. It waits in the cool shade of surrender.
I think about the few times we have sit with those dying and heard these words from loveones, “it’s alright, go on, it’s alright, you can go. I think it is the last surrender. We will have prefected the “art of falling backwards.”
Great post brother.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013 @ 6:54 am
“We will have all perfected the ‘art of falling backwards.” And, “It waits in the cool shade of surrender.” I love the quotes from those books, but your words seem to fit well with how my mind works. I’m not sure if it isn’t how God has connected us in heart. Either way, I am always so comforted by your words, heart, and spirit from God that we share. Makes sense to me. Thanks so much, Betty. Awesome words.
Monday, January 28, 2013 @ 9:21 pm
Great post as always:)
It takes time to build trust but it can be broken in a second. Trust is a essential aspect to building relationships and within leadership. Glad God shows me grace and mercy during my weak moments.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013 @ 6:56 am
Great point, Dan. Our flesh tends to drop things and others now and then, which is to have our trust broken. Great point. I too am thankful for the heart and hands of God that offer grace, mercy, protection, and His provision. Well said. Thanks, Dan.
Monday, January 28, 2013 @ 11:22 pm
Very good illustrations. It’s like how a child trusts in their father holding them firmly and not dropping them.
I am in good hands, God has me in good hands. The big word trust – Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with ALL you heart, in ALL your ways – don’t lean on your own understanding.
I have also dropped others along the way and been dropped – life is all about rising up from the fall(forgiving) and moving (trusting again) – if people, with lessons under your arm. If God, we fell because we chose to put our foot behind just in case. So with good we’ve got to enjoy the free fall(smiling all the way)
.
Appreciate the encouragement Floyd, blessing to you
Tuesday, January 29, 2013 @ 7:00 am
Wow. Great analogies, Maureen. That will make you think! “Lessons under your arm.” Nice… I too will be smiling all the way! You’re welcome and thanks to you for your encouragement and adding to the lesson, thanks, Maureen.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013 @ 5:19 am
Wow, you said so well what I want to say about trust, about who we can and cannot trust, and why, that I could just send my readers over here to this post. So well conveyed by these living pictures.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013 @ 7:02 am
Thanks, Sylvia. You know what they say, “Even a blind squirrel finds a nut ever once in a while!” God has a way of making us valuable. Thanks, coming from you that is a huge compliment and reminder that it is all for and about our Father.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013 @ 8:13 pm
I’m not PERFECT??? [Who, ME???] Oh, well. I guess not. I am usually on alert, watching the people around me, family and others. However, my husband is practically perfect [I’ll have to post about the t-shirt I had made for him for his 2nd Father’s Day time with us: The front says, “My Wife Believes I’m Like Mary Poppins” … the back: “Practically Perfect in Every Way” — when he wore it at the zoo once ladies kept looking and turning and reading it and laughing.] He is a true “God-gift.” NOW, HE says he isn’t that good and always tells people I’m being too nice. I always remind him that compared to being married to someone who was emotionally abusive to me and physically to the kids and didn’t provide for us, DAVE IS PERFECT!
I also am blessed to have a few truly good friends. People I could fall backward on and, if possible, they would do the event perfectly. The fact that we’re aging, have our own physical tail-kicking events that take our strength, we might not be able to grab or hold fast enough or be strong enough.
But, again, being on alert from here to heaven is a good thing… and a necessity 99% of the time. [Except when with my hubby … I started to fall across the room this evening and if he hadn’t grabbed me at the right time, I’d have crashed onto the floor, and into a book case and wouldn’t be reading or writing tonight.]
Bless you, Friend.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013 @ 6:51 am
Your husband is the hand of God at times, Joanne. What a blessing. I guess with aging it all gets easier to see doesn’t it? I like how you recall the past to appreciate the future… Wisdom in your words, my friend. Thanks.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013 @ 12:39 pm
As I’ve grown, one of the things I’ve come to love more and more about God is his faithfulness. I can trust him. It’s so easy to say that – so hard to really live it out.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013 @ 5:06 pm
Words of wisdom, brother. It is easy to say, but we’re getting stronger. We’ve come a long way and sharing this truth of God helps a ton. Thanks, Loren.