Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is the letting go. ~Hermann Hesse
The summer draws to a close with school bells ringing, yellow buses waking up, and college students going into an unsettling medical phenomenon: Syllabus shock. This summer was a summer of “things I have always wanted to do but never was (brave, motivated, able, strong, thoughtful) enough to do”. Included in this list would be; nanny full-time, re-create my favorite theatre character, run a half-marathon, and keep my Nelson visits to only a monthly basis. Only one life goal evaded my motivated summer: to start a blog of all my passionate, random, misdirected, and frequent musings.
In an attempt to continue my streak of bucket-list-checkoffs…. Wen yü fre fal is born.
Wen yü fre fal, translated from its Unamunda origin directly means “When you free fall….”
Free Fall: noun.- a hypothetical fall; especially a sudden or rapid decline that seems endless or bottomless
This coming Senior year of college seems like a hypothetical fall into an endless pit. Student loan payments are right around the corner; the need to find a job right after graduation; Senior showcase; Eighteen Credits; Rent. The list goes on. And on. And on. And on. Whole nights have been spent tossing in bed over the endless worries that have pushed my soul to the edge of a cliff, where only the bottomless pit awaits me. Until very recently, the idea of free falling sounded synonymous to crashing into the jagged rocks this world has to offer hopeful soon-to-be-graduates. In attempt to not fall off that cliff edge, I strained back with all my might using my own intelligence, organization, planning, and understanding to fight the force that was pushing me to this certain fall of doom. That is…. until a very quiet moment in my car where God intervened.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledged Him, and he will make straight your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6
“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” Isaiah 43:18-19
“A way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert”. The current landscape of my life, and many other College seniors’ lives seem to be a creepy hybrid of an immense wilderness with no clear direction and a parched dessert where no refreshing water of relief is to be found. And here is the Lord saying… I will make a way.
It was in these verses, and in the quiet voice of God that I realized that to “free fall” is not to descend into the pit of this world that desperately wants us to crash. To “free fall” is to Let Go. We are not meant to use our own understanding to cling to that cliff. Rather, we are to take one last glance at the chaos in our wake, and then recklessly and un-abandonly fall…. into the arms of our Savior. For the Lord does not just promise us a gentle catch when we fall into Him; He promises that we can SOAR.
“But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will SOAR high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint” Isaiah 40:31
The Lord wants us to surrender. He wants us to jump off that cliff. Because…
Wen yü fre fal…… you fall into your awaiting Savior.
wen yü fre fal 