SOMETIMES I HAVE TO LET YOU FALL

Sometimes I have to let you fall, so that you can learn to stand up on your own and be the person God called you to be.

Oh yeah, my first instinct is always to reach out to catch you and break your fall, then lay you down gently so that you will not feel the pain of falling. But I have come to realize that in so doing, I’m not helping but hindering you because if you never fall, you’ll never be able to rise up.  If you are always being put down gently, you will never find the motivation to learn to stand up on your own, and you’ll always need someone else to buffer you.  However, once you fall down and feel the pain of falling then you’ll be more careful about the choices that you make.  You’ll also learn that if you remain where you fall, you’ll have to learn to endure the constant pain; but if you want to continue on that journey, you must learn to press pass the pain and rise up on your own – and when you can do that, you’ll be liberated.  So, yes, today it might seem cruel that I stand by and watch you hit the ground, but tomorrow you’ll understand why I had to let you fall.

I know it’s not going to be easy, for either of us, but it most certainly is necessary. Sometimes I may even have to walk away and leave you all alone with your pain, but I promise I’ll never be so far away that I cannot see you when you rise.  And when you do decide to rise up, know that I’ll be here waiting to continue the journey with you.  But if you’ve fallen so hard that you truly cannot rise up on your own, know that I’ll still be there to lend a hand.

So instead of becoming discouraged and trying to hate me for failing to catch you when you do the stupid things you do, just try to understand and see it from my point of view. Then, and only then, will you come to realize why SOMETIMES I HAVE TO LET YOU FALL because whenever I have to break your fall I’m carrying the weight of two – and that extra weight causes me to break in spirit, too, and diminishes my capacity to withstand the wiles of the evil one and  run with endurance the race that has been set before me.