falling

Tis the season for snow...and ice. Being a fairly uncoordinated person, I tend to avoid the latter. I mean, I couldn't even survive living in Tennessee without encountering my share of icy falls, much less Illinois! So, now that I live in an ice-prone environment, I am always on the lookout.

Recently, I was not quite so vigilant. I was on an evening stroll and decided to take the scenic route to town through the middle of a park. I noticed upon approach that the sidewalks had not been cleared and were covered with snow. As I got closer, I realized that not only were they snow-laden, but were also very icy. Being the stubborn person I am, I decided I would still press on and make my way through the park, so I tried to avoid the icy patches. Well, unfortunately, I hit a little slippery spot and my body fought to maintain its balance. I almost pulled my back out simply trying to keep both feet on the ground. After regaining my balance once more, the thought hit me about how much effort my body went through to keep itself upright. I could have endured much more pain by trying to avoid impact with the ground then actually falling itself.

Isn't this what we do though? How many people do you know that have broken bones b/c they stumbled and tried to break their fall? Our body's natural reaction is to try to protect itself...and sometimes this comes at our own expense. Often the act of trying to lessen the impact actually ends up causing more damage than the fall ever would.

I think this concept applies to other areas of our lives as well. Emotionally we go through this all of the time. We hit a rough patch. We "stumble." In an effort to lessen the blow, we seek stiff arm and try to protect ourselves. We deny. We repress. We refuse to actually allow ourselves to fall and embrace the impact. As a result, we drag things out and end up causing more damage to ourselves than we would have if we had just dealt with it to begin with. Just like falling physically, our natural tendencies to protect our emotions can be detrimental if not handled correctly.

I asked myself if this is something that could also be applied to our spiritual lives. Do we ever find ourselves "tripping up" and refusing to face the full impact? Instead we peter along, balancing between some comfortable/uncomfortable state and refuse to really let ourselves "hit." I don't know...but it's something worth thinking about.

So, next time, when you hit the ice, you have a choice to make. Will you spend so much effort protecting yourself from falling or will you embrace the impact head on? Oftentimes, you only have a split second to decide...