Have you cut the umbilical cord?

Isaiah 40:31 (NIV)

But those who hope in the Lord

    will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

    they will run and not grow weary,

    they will walk and not be faint.

I saw a video on Facebook of two people flying in a special contraption that looked like a minimized hang glider. The device was connected however, by an extreme extra-long cord, to a motor boat. The speed of the boat kept it up in the air, guiding it through the wide open space of the sky.

They were actually flying without the aid of a motor, and had effortlessly reached the heights of the sky. And as long as they stayed connected to the speed boat via the umbilical-looking attachment, they would never fall.

It is this that reminded me of my favorite passage in the Bible: "Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Is 40:31

Just like these people, we, as Christians, can soar way up high, just like eagles! But we, too, have to rely on an "umbilical" cord that attaches us to our Maker and Savior. This "umbilical" cord is called trust.

But trust doesn't come too easily, especially nowadays.

To trust completely we have to set aside our pride and our preoccupations. We have to put our entire focus on the person we trust. Only then can we soar way up to heights we would never have imagined. Gone are the addictions. Gone are the worries. Gone are any selfishness and unforgiveness.

This is where most of us go wrong. We are so attracted by our own wants that we never find the time to start trusting anyone, much less our Father in Heaven.  And that's where we continue to live a mundane life.

We all fall short of the assured promise: "All these things will be given to you as well."

It seems to be human nature that as soon as we are experiencing any kind of soaring in the heights of the sky, we immediately take out our pocket knife and severe the cord that keeps us in the air. "We can do it by ourselves" we claim, only to discover over and over again that it is not so, after we crash.

We can fly like eagles, but only if we truly stay connected to God in all humility with the "umbilical" cord called total trust.

Dear Lord, we pray that we would trust You. When we are trying to do it on our own help us turn back to You and trust You so that we indeed can fly like the eagles. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.