Stumbling Through
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“To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy.” Jude 1:24
On my last morning at the beach, I got up before the sunrise to run on the beach. Nobody was on the beach yet, and the sun was just beginning to bring color to the sky. The wind was strong, and the waves were crashing on the shore. I began to run, and my foot went down into a hole caused by the water and the soft sand. I fell forward into the sand. Got up and continued my run. Then I took my phone out of my pocket while I was running to take a picture of the sunrise. As I was putting my phone back and began to run again, my foot went into a sand rut, and I fell again dropping my phone which bounced off the sand and hit me above my left eye. I was done running and decided to just walk. My foot went into another hole and down I went. I was thankful it was only sand and water.
What started out as a beautiful way to end my beach trip by running on the beach at sunrise, turned into three falls, a bruise around my eye and a knot above my eye, and sore arms and wrists from catching my fall. We all stumble and sometimes fall physically. The falls can leave us bruised, with broken bones, crushed egos, and afraid to attempt it again. We stumble and our bodies pay the price. Sometimes we stumble because we should not be doing what we are doing. I should not have run in the soft sand with crashing waves.
We stumble in many ways in life. To stumble is to momentarily lose one’s balance. We physically lose our balance and almost fall. We stumble in making decisions, in relationships, in our words. We attempt to do what is right and good, but we mess up. We start the day being positive and grateful to God. We are upbeat and then something goes wrong. We may make a mess of something, get irritated, or lose our temper. We stumble and lose focus.
We stumble in our faith, too. We want to follow Jesus and be aware of His presence daily. Our desire is to glorify God in all we say and do. But words come out of our mouths or are in our thoughts that are not respectful or holy. We get angry with others and the government, the news, the neighbors and even God. We stumble.
To stumble is to fall into sin and allow obstacles to get in our way. There are stumbling blocks that separate us from living the life God called us to live. We get off balance. Life does not turn out the way we had hoped or planned. Bad things happen. Disease and death make us lose our balance, and we stumble through the trials life gives us.
We get up and try again after we stumble, but many times we keep doing the same thing repeatedly expecting life to be different. When we repeat, we seem to keep stumbling. Just like I did on the beach. I did not learn the first time that the wind and waves were too strong to run that morning and it was causing the sand to be too soft to run. I did not learn from my first stumble.
Sometimes, we keep stumbling and are off balance because we are attempting to make it on our own. We tell ourselves that we should be strong enough and have enough willpower to keep going. We attempt to prove to ourselves that we can do it. We should have enough stamina and endurance to keep going and to pick ourselves up if we stumble. There are times when life seems to be winning and when we stumble, we just want to stay down and cry and give up. We have all been there even if we don’t want to admit it to anyone else or even to ourselves. We have been there when a loved one dies, when disease takes over a loved one’s body, when tragedy strikes.
It is surrendering to God and crying out, “Help. I need you to come and pick me up. I keep stumbling.” God doesn’t tell us to pick ourselves up or that we should be stronger and to stop crying. No, God reaches down in our stumbling and brushes off the sand and holds us up until we can get our balance. God gives us His strength through the Holy Spirit.
Balance. It is not just physical. We lose our balance and fall. We get off balance in our thoughts, our feelings, our emotions, and how we deal with life. Sometimes what is small and insignificant becomes the focus. We get lost in things that will not matter tomorrow or next week. We stumble through life and lose focus on what is important. It is not what we achieve or the busyness of tasks that gives life meaning. It is Jesus – His love and relationship. We are loved because of whose we are – God’s children. When we stumble and mess up, God’s love and grace forgives us and restores us.
Stumble into the arms of Jesus. Spend time with Jesus. Allow Jesus to hold you up until you get your balance. Jesus won’t leave us, but Jesus will continue to beside us to catch us when we stumble.
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