Daniel is almost a year old and is learning to walk. This means that he is using anything and everything in his reach to stand. Once he is up he lets go and takes wobbly steps towards his goal. But Daniel does not just want to learn how to walk, he wants to run. So, as happens when a child learns to walk, he falls. Sometimes as he is falling an arm stretches out just in time ensuring a soft landing. Other times he lands on his bum and is no worse for the wear. But there is always a teacher or staffer close by encouraging him to get up and try again. These adults know that Daniel will learn to walk, they know that he will learn to run, and most importantly, they know that falling down is all part of the process. They know that once he learns to walk he will no longer want to crawl. He will no longer need to.
In many ways Roots & Wings is similar to our sweet little Daniel. We are growing up, we have mastered crawling and desperately want to RUN! We want to accept more children, we want to expand our program services, we want to partner with other organizations to restore children to their families, we want to see radical transformation in each home.
And we will.
Just as we know that Daniel will learn to walk, God knows exactly what Roots & Wings will become and exactly what Roots & Wings will accomplish. But before we run we must first learn to walk. We must take those awkward steps and fall on our bum. Families in need will turn us down; parents will disregard our teachings and spurn their therapy; children will leave the program. We will take a tumble here and there, but we must keep dusting ourselves off and trying again.
The beauty is that we are never outside the protective reach of our Father and we can trust that God will not let us fall too hard. He will continue to lovingly encourage us to get back up – to try again – because he knows that soon enough we will be running.
