Default to Risk

Default to risk. This is an interesting concept given to me in conversation with a brilliant man of God. Last night we had company and one of our dinner guests was a toddler just past the age of one. She can feed herself and while she did, she missed her mouth a whole lot. She can walk and she does, and she often trips or bumps against something and down she goes, looking back to see what the cause of her stumble was...she drinks from a sippy cup and much water covers the front of her clothes. Self blame did not exist for an entire evening of toddledom and while she picked heavy objects up and adjusted to their weight (a two pound dumbbell) gravity pulled her down and with mighty unquestioned baby strength, she got back up again, weight in hand. Her daddy, he was and is a human jungle gym, a training ground for learning how to fly and be caught, teedering on the edge of danger with a safety net of ever ready hands as nets and watchful eyes keeping pace with the business of exploring and learning rapidly. The child laughs easily, loves readily, plays naturally. The parent watches proudly, adoringly and with a desire for the little one to be free, joy filled in the learning. I witnessed what I did not experience growing up, a reminder to me that fear and guilt, along with self consciousness, are taught and are not naturally occurring. This brings me to risk, risk IS natural, normal, factory setting as in born with it~risk takes me/you from crawling to walking to running and than climbing; from feeling to thinking (YES, IN THAT ORDER) to saying and doing...defaulting to risk makes me a difference maker, life changer, a force in the world, a change agent a________, a________YOU fill in your own blanks. Self recrimination, self depricating thoughts and words, they serve no one, they speak of the need to know that I/you are loved from the outside in, it is a way of checking in as in "is this okay mommy, did I do this right daddy, do you approve, am I ok, AM I OKKKKKKK?". The sweet toddler, with her sweet jungle gym daddy, they had a system. She took uncalculated risks with him close by and when in danger, daddy was there to catch her as she flew through the air. He is there to guide her, help her check out how far she can go, what she can touch taste and smell and steering her clear of what might harm or hurt her, always with gentle redirection, love and affection. This is how I see my Heavenly Father, wanting for me/you to explore, default to what in adulthood feels like risk, with him as the jungle gym daddy, encouraging exploration while ever present as I/you fly through the air, He is ready to catch us. This is dedicated to Scott Forbes and Ayden Townsend, two daddies modelled after my all time favourite daddy, my Abba Father, God Almighty.