Clinging and Swinging

In Psalm 63:8, King David told God, "My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me." This is a pretty amazing statement given that David penned it while running through the desert from his son, Absolom, who was hunting him down with plans to kill him.

Linda Dillow (author of A Deeper Kind of Calm, the book my women's Bible study is reading right now) asks us to remember a time when we experienced "clinging," and to describe those feelings. Well here's an example of NOT clinging:

When I was five years old, I was at my friend Sandy's house down the street, playing on her backyard swing. I was doing what all children do on swings: leaning back, pumping my legs, and looking up at the sky. "If you let go," her older brother, Larry, said, "you can fly!"



Me being the gullible idiot I was, I let go. Bam. That hard ground felt like cement. A burning pain seared through my body. After I caught my breath, I began to cry. In fact, I walked home, crying all the way. My collar bone was broken.  But what's worse, my trust in people was broken too.

What was going on inside that 5-year-old head of mine? Who knows. But one thing I do know is that if I had held on tight (and clinged) to that chain swing, I would have kept soaring higher and higher. I wouldn't have been hurt. I would have been free and happy. Instead, I chose to listen to - and believe - in the world's lies.

"Let go...and you can do this ...on your own..." 

Lord, please help me to ignore those lies. Help me cling to You with all my strength. I know You will never steer you wrong or let me fall. Amen