Limb

It was just a quick pass by on Westheimer, but in the Jamba Juice window there was a simple sign that read: "Go out on a limb, that is where the fruit is". I guess to mean, if you haven't tried them, then do. It was merely a suggestion, but it has lingered in my mind all week. Not actually trying the juice, but the part about going out on a limb. I love adventure and I pretty much like changing things up a bit too. And sometimes in order to change things up, I have to go out on a unfamiliar limb to access the fruit of the change. Then a couple of days later, I passed a sign on I 10 that said: Failure is not a dead end, it is merely a detour. And when combining the two thoughts, it occurred to me that so many times we are hesitant to go out on a limb because we are unsure of the what we will find. What if failure is at limb's end?

We wake up with each day being a new day. A new set of challenges, a new set of things to see, but oh too often with the same mindset, one of ho hum existence, without a bent for adventure or a desire to take a chance on something that we may not know the outcome of. Our days are set with routine activities, everything from coffee and the news, to carpools and rituals, but even in the routine there is variety in it all if we only seek to find it. This going out on a limb thing is intriguing to me, because it is a quest to find something new and do something new without the guarantees of:

1) I would like what I found,
We had all been in places that we had wished for and prayed for and once we got there, ti was not at all what we had expected. It has happened to me time and time again. For those are times when I have refused to be patient or submit to God's ways, and I act on impulse or envy or motivations that are self controlled rather than God controlled. That isn't failure, that is God giving me what we have asked for and using it as a tool to teach me to hang on and wait for the fruits that he has in store. I climbed in anxiousness and ate the fruit of my own desires, rather to submitting to God's.

2) the limb wouldn't break
I have been there too, stretched out and grabbing for the fruit and the limb has broken, Broken dreams, broken promises, broken relationships, broken hearts. But that isn't failure, only a detour. One that God has allowed or orchestrated, for my best and for his purposes.

or 3) I had climbed up the right tree. We have to make mistakes in order to have a better clarity as to what is the right way. God helps us to see things from a different perspective when we find ourselves up the wrong tree. That is not failure, that is God;s grace as he looks upon us.

The failure thing is a realistic admonition that often prevents us from going out on that limb. None of us want to fail, because failure has consequences, that sometimes seem too overwhelming to face. But those consequences are just where God is. He can help us to make lemonade out of lemons. (good fruit analogy don't you think). But if we don't try to go out on that limb, we will never know if we could have been successful and what fruits may have come from our efforts. Going out on a limb is the charge that we have accepted that involves a certain amount of risk.

The bible is filled with stories of risk takers but one story specifically fits this analogy because it is about a little man, probably less than five feet tall who actually did go out on a limb to see Christ. Zacchaeus risked failure oo. He might be ridiculed, (he was a chief tax collector and people were watching), exposed ( he gladly invited Christ into his home and exposed the way he lived), and lose his possessions ( he was willing to give the security he had found in possessions for the sake of following Christ). The risks he took made him stand head and shoulders above the level of the mediocre crowd around him. And his risk was rewarded. He was a man of wealth and position yet he risked his prominence to climb up a tree in the midst of a crowd to get closer to Jesus. Are we willing to climb out on the limb that God has placed before us? And to see him closer? Is it worth the risk? Or the possibility of failure?

Luke 19: 4-6
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

Life is filled with opportunities that God has given to us so that we may use and share the gifts that that he has created within us. But before we climb out on that limb we first must try to faithfully evaluate the possibilities of whether or not we will be able to see Christ through choices we make. Just as we have worldly opportunities he has also given us opportunities to share our stories, and declare his glories when we have witnessed them in our lives. We all have varied personalities, experiences, and preferences, and the limbs that are before us are individually chosen for purposes that only God knows. If we are to be able to see Christ clearly, we have to be willing to take the risk to trust him and climb out on the limb of faith. We need to be alert and aware of the possibilities that are before us and try to discover which ones would be most complementary to the gifts that God has placed within us. And then, pray faithfully, take courage and set out to grasp that fruit. No matter where we climb or how far out we go, God is still there, still with us, and still loving us and teaching us to submit to his ways and seek his face in all that we do.

Dear Lord, There are times when I feel like I am out on a limb and the fruit is no where in sight while other times there is a limb that is bountiful with fruit, and I am filled to the top. Help me to look at each day as a new one, through eyes that are seeking to find the tree that you want me to climb. And help me Lord to understand that I may not always get it right when I go out on a limb, but that you will always be there to help me find my way to the next one. Amen


Praise God wherever you are and whatever situation He has allowed you to be in . . . His glory will shine through!