Daring

Over at Life is a Patchwork Quilt, my friend Val writes of being asked by her son, "What is the most daring thing you did as a child?"  Val had a truly daring answer- but that's her story to tell- click over to her blog to read about it.  She then challenged others to think of what daring deeds they might have done in childhood.

I confess that most of the things that I can think of from my childhood that might qualify as "daring" were really simply "foolish."  And most involved heights.  I liked to go back behind my grandpa's garage and climb up on the cement brick wall, and then climb up on the top of the clothesline pole, and then climb up onto the roof of the garage, and read.  It would then just be me and the sparrows, with a bird's eye view of the neighborhood.

Later we moved to a house at the very foothill of the Sandia mountains in Albuquerque.  My sister and I would get home from school before my parents did, and occassionally we would forget our housekey.  On those days, we would stack two patio chairs on top of each other on the back deck, climb up on the electric box, climb up on the roof, crawl in through an upper window, jump over the alarm security pads in the bedroom, and go downstairs to turn off the alarm and open the doors correctly. 

That house was great for playing hide and seek.  It had thick beams that extended over the living room, accessible from the upstairs above.  We could crawl out onto the beams, and although we weren't really "hidden,"  it was a strategic place to wait, because from that point, you could either jump down to the couch below, or get back over to the upstairs and make a run to base. 

"Daring"?  Maybe.  A little bit.  But mostly- foolish.

I look at "daring" different now.  The dictionary defines daring as "brave and adventurous; courageous; bold."  Baptist theologian William Newton Clark wrote, "Faith is the daring of the soul to go farther than it can see."  For some, to step out in faith is daring, but for me, that step is simply obedience.  To not obey would be the true risk.  I think of David when he wrote in the Psalms, "On the day I called Thou did answer me; Thou did make me bold with strength in my soul." (Ps. 138:3)  That is the thanksgiving I sing as well.  My prayer is "Please, Lord, make me daring for the glory of your kingdom."

(art credit:  Do or Do Not There is No Try by LeslieLeeArt on Etsy)