When We Fall

We do this drive every week.

My sister and I had a work appointment (to make it sound adult and professional…it was really just kid sitting.)

Mom got behind the wheel, and we sat in our white minivan for the 20 minute long trip.We were stopped at the most familiar intersection to me on the route: the one next to the train tracks. It was a wide intersection, a divided street, with plenty of traffic. So I was surprised that the lady was crossing.

The light had turned red, and she stepped out onto the street pushing a large stroller. It was designed to carry one child only, and a young child did appear to be seated under the raised hood. But there were two kids with this woman, who I will assume to be the mother.

It was the little girl who caught my attention. Or rather, her location.

She was mounted up on the stroller’s handlebars, facing her mother, her bright pink shirt making her even easier to spot. She sat as straight as a princess, her arms pressed to her sides. Her small hands gripping the handlebar beneath her was the only thing that kept her balance as the heavy stroller on which she rode joltingly jogged along.

Nearly half way across, the woman picked a more hurried pace to make sure that she beat the light. At a sudden bump just after the increase in speed, the little girl was jarred off balance and she flung out her arms as she fell face forward onto her mother.

I felt momentary fear for her, because they were still in the middle of the road. But she was able to recover herself and was sitting straight up once more, or possibly even straighter, as they continued rapidly onwards. 

They reached the sidewalk just as our light turned green. All I could think as we drove away was, “How is that safe?”……

Life is a bumpy ride, and there are times when it can be hard to hold on. When we just can’t “get a grip” or “get a handle” on things, when something enormous is hurled our way and we feel like we’ll be sent flying, or we’re jolted out of our senses, there’s something to fall against and Someone to catch us.

We’re not the ones pushing; we’re just riding. We’re not the ones in control of the world, and the truth is we can’t even weather life on our own strength.

And one of the reasons that things are so tough, besides the fact that the trials are lovingly used for our own spiritual benefit and even personal good, is that other people will inevitably see us when we fall, the way I did with the girl on the stroller. But unlike that analogy, where I could see both mother and daughter, people can’t see God. But they can see it when He catches us. When something happens, even something devastating, when we should have caved in, been knocked down, or broken to pieces, and we’re not…..they’re going to be wondering….What caught you? Why didn’t you fall?

Because you’re not all-powerful, and to any person who’s truly seeing what’s happening to you, that’s going to be perfectly obvious. You know that, so don’t pretend. Your hardships and your struggles can point to something greater than yourself, and cause people to wonder what’s carrying you through it all.

God is the one carrying you through life, nothing and no one else. He is the one that sustains you; He is the one that gives you life. And when you hit a bump in the road, it is not because He stumbled. He never stumbles. He never falters. He is an almighty God, the creator of the world, and He will never let you fall.

This should never become a Christian cliché, this should be our mindset. Your mindset. My mindset.