Afraid? Just Listen!!!

A few months ago, my wife and I took our three children and our two nieces to the park. At some point we all gathered around the swings.  There was only four swings total, two toddler and two regular.  So there we were four kids swinging away, everybody but Levi, my 7 year old.  He was at a good distance away from the swings. 

At some point he called out, "I want a turn on the swings. Let me try." I could since fear in his voice.  Not only did I since it in his voice but I knew what he was feeling.  He's my son and I've been there, right at the place where he found himself.  As a kid I was afraid of everything. I was not a thrill seeker. And so there he was afraid, trying to muster up enough courage to face it.

Now he's on the swings and as I begin to pull him back to start the swinging motion he calls out to me, "Not to high dad."  My response to him is "son, I'm not going to do anything to hurt you or allow you to be hurt." He says okay, all while digging his feet into the ground.  Finally I get one good push in but every time he came back down he dug his feet in the ground.  He was not going.

I was getting frustrated now.  I yelled out, "Levi keep your feet off the ground." He's telling me "I'm not," all the while digging his feet into the ground stopping the momentum.  I guess my frustration came from the fact that I knew the only thing that was stopping him from going higher, from experiencing what he really wanted to experience was fear.   He was preventing himself.

At some point I just told him to get up.  As I walked out of the park I said to myself, "all he had to do was listen." I realized that even though he was afraid he could have still overcame if he would have just listened to my voice and direction in the face of fear. Then it hit me, what's one of the best things you can do when you're afraid.  The answer: listen to directions.

Are you afraid? What do you fear? What is keeping you grounded, keeping your feet digging into the ground? What is stopping you from going higher and gaining momentum? Here's my last question, are you listening? Are you following the directions of your Father?

When afraid, just listen. Listen for His voice.  Listen for His direction. Listen and you'll overcome your fear.  Listen, and you'll go higher. Listen and you'll gain momentum. Listen and that swing set won't be able to stop you.

Afraid??? Just Listen!!!!