I’ve always felt that one day I will go skydiving. Something about the freedom in free-falling and feeling the wind in my hair is very appealing to me. To see our ground view from the vantage point high in the sky without looking through a window would be amazing. Hmmm… maybe that has something to do with my childhood recurring dream of flying in our neighbor’s backyard. Or maybe it was just a sleepy fantasy related to The Flying Nun, except without the big hat with wings.
But truthfully, I haven’t yet made the jump out of a plane yet. I thought about doing it to celebrate my 50th birthday, then my 60th birthday. But keeping it real, yes, there may be a little fear attached to the thought.
I tried a pretend version of skydiving in an indoor vertical wind tunnel. Although that removed the fear of falling to my death, it was physically strenuous and hard making sure I didn’t fly into the wall, and I felt like my arms were going to be yanked out of my shoulders. So, I’m thinking it wasn’t an accurate substitution for the real deal. Or at least not the same amazing experience I hear from actual skydivers.
I absolutely love the joy of fresh air blowing in my hair when riding through the countryside with the windows down, on a boat or jet-ski, riding a bike, on a roller coaster (some roller coasters) or sitting in a peaceful place with a breeze blowing. And I can certainly get a wonderful vantage point as I look across the terrain into the horizon when I travel on a plane. Or climbing 178 steps to the top of the Tybee Island Lighthouse like I recently experienced with my granddaughter Chayse. All of these provide me a pleasing result but not the same as what I imagine the real experience of skydiving provides.
So, I guess there is a question I must answer, “Am I really going to do it?” OR “Am I going to settle for the lesser things?” In a way I think I view this as a litmus test for my mindset of life. Living fully or settling. Adventurous in faith or familiar and comfy.
God created me as an Abstract / Random processor. (More on the actual beauty of that another day.) However, that doesn’t align to what our culture and the traditional marketplace has normally valued. And regrettably I have allowed it to speak awkwardness and failure and incompetence into my heart and mind. Yet in His mercy God has been shining light on those non-truths to reveal and heal places of my woundedness. He is a good, good Father. So now, with more confidence, I believe I am intended and being called to lean in and jump into that abstract randomness and embrace it verses feeling the need to massage it into something that aligns more with expectations of the world. Which, by the way, never lasts and is the opposite of life-giving.
As I continue this journey of Unleashing my Voice to help others unleash theirs, I think the way… the real way is… I gotta jump out of the figurative plane and experience the wind in my hair and amazing views that the jump provides. That’s the only way I can grasp the beauty and difference in the results of the pretend version and the real version. But gosh, what about my questions of How do I help others unleash their Voice? What will that look like? What will that feel like? Will I pack my “parachute” correctly or just fall? I don’t know yet, but I am certain the only way I will know is to trust and jump. Feel the wind in my hair and soak in the view. And even when I don’t pack my “parachute” correctly HE will catch me.
I believe some of you wonder about feeling the wind in your hair or seeing the beauty of the horizon, too. But let’s admit it, the comfortable and familiar are easier so why would we risk the big stuff. We all have questions to be answered and adventures to begin. And we often need encouragement. That’s my heart. So, despite my abstract randomness, and even because of it, whatever your jump needs to be, I am looking for ways to cheer you on!!! We can even jump together.
So, about that actual skydive jump… maybe it’s time…
Unleashing Voices to Speak Life 