Designed to Fly

There once was a little girl. She was loud and energetic. Her Deddy said she was the fastest of all of her cousins. She could outrun her older brother, and all the older neighborhood boys in any foot race. 

It felt so good to take off, with her wispy thin white hair, bleached by the sun, scraggling behind her. It felt so good knowing she could catch up, and move quickly. 

One day something unexpected happened. She was playing a game of hide-and-seek with the same hope and joy in speed, when suddenly her left knee popped out of place. It stayed dislocated and she screamed as loud as possible hoping her mama would hear, who was inside cooking supper. Her mother soon arrived, just as the knee cap finally went back into place. It was the most physically painful thing that the small little girl had ever experienced.

Soon, there was scarcely a time during an all out race or game of speed when one of her knees were not dislocating. Whenever one of her knees popped out it would swell up and it would hurt to walk.

The girl's mother took her to many doctors. There was no real explanation, other than a few compounding factors were causing a muscle to pull her knees out of location when they were being used for more than basic walking. The natural shape of her legs and hips were the supposed root. Hopefully, she'd outgrow it.

Soon, the girl was afraid to run. She was afraid to allow herself to take off with the other kids. She was afraid of pain. She could run slowly, but she lost the races and couldn't keep up at that pace anyway. She spent a lot more time inside than before. She gave up the idea and hope that she'd ever run with the other kids again. What did it matter anyway?

The small girl grew into a woman. Life had gone on, and one day she woke up with hope. Hope that, maybe, just maybe she should try to run again. 

It took her months to get over the fears that constantly bombarded her mind as she jogged at the very slowest possible pace. 

"It will REALLY hurt if you dislocate your knee."

"How are you going to complete your daily tasks if you injure your knee again? You know you normally are in pain for a couple of weeks following one of these fiascos."

"Just quit. It's not worth the risk."

She was tired of quitting. She was tired of fear. So with each run, she'd hang on to hope. Hope that she'd go further than ever before. Hope that there would be no sudden pain or disappointment.

She was grown and didn't care about keeping up with anyone else anymore. She just wanted to believe again. She wanted to believe that she could have victory over all the pain and all of the fear. She wanted to believe that what was impossible for her, could finally be possible. 

 And the more she believed, the more she felt like she was flying. Her speed was irrelevant. She didn't care what she looked like. The more she believed, the more freedom she found from her fears. It was flying.

...There was a girl. The girl was free and creative. The girl had so many dreams. She was always working on a new plan. It often drove her mama crazy. 

The girl would flip through the phone book looking for new classes to take. Dance, acting, music...

She'd spend hours making up dances on her trampoline. Practicing performances, making commercials, telling stories. She'd write out her plans and dreams.

She was never embarrassed about her ideas. She really believed in all of them. She was often called naive and overly optimistic. 

Sadly, over time she began to listen to the voices. She began to realize how weird all the dreams were. Hard circumstances didn't help either. 

She slowly began to believe that she had nothing of importance to offer the world.

Once she gave up hope, it was easy to make bad decisions. One bad decision followed another, until the girl was as low as she could possibly go. It was her darkest hour.

But then something amazing happened. A Savior showed up one morning, with His arms wide open. He was not mad at the girl. He had love and compassion in His eyes. He still wanted the girl, even after all of the bad decisions she'd made.

He forgave the girl. He healed the girl. He gave the girl a new start. She was truly new. She was more alive than ever.

The girl slowly began to believe again. It was still called naive optimism by the world, but she was learning the world could never comprehend what this "naive optimism" actually was...faith.

She began to believe that this same Savior could restore every hopeless situation. She began to believe that He could provide for impossible circumstances and could bless beyond measure. She began to understand that He loved her endlessly and actually wanted to. 

She stopped comparing her past and her pain and her abilities to others. She didn't care about keeping up with anyone else anymore. What if everything she was believing for did come true? What if she saw the impossible become possible because of the great Savior who now dwelled within her?

And an incredible thing began to happen to her. The more she believed, the more her fears dissolved. The more she believed, the more she felt like she was flying. The more she trusted the Savior, the more she began to see impossibilities become miracles before her.

 The girl was never made to sit inside in a cloud of fear and insecurity. The girl was never made to walk slowly through life, to protect herself from disappointment and pain. She was created by the Savior for an important task. When the girl was so focused on failure and people and opinions, the girl couldn't see the Savior and His beauty or the impossible dreams He had placed within her. But when she looked at her Savior, the object of her affection, she knew through Him the impossible was possible. 

For she, like all mankind, wasn't created for fear or normalcy. On His wings, she was designed to fly. And the more she believed, the more she soared. It was flying.