When you make a decision to take the leap from ego to Love, from fear to surrender, you begin to worry about how far that gap really is.
It’s just like when I was 4 years old. I was a little daredevil and I wanted to jump off the high dive at the local pool. My grandpa Torben dove in and was treading water beneath the 12 ft. high diving board barking at me, “Come on kid, that’s it, climb up and jump in with me. I gotcha!”
I still remember climbing those concrete steps, my little knees knocking all the way up. Lifeguards were blowing their whistles at my Grandpa and me. This was a violation! And it only added to my excitement. When I reached the top my 4-year old bravado ran out and I was really scared. I walked to the edge and looked over. There was Grandpa. “Come on! Jump in it’s easy! I’ll catch yah!”
The lifeguards with their sunblocked noses were standing up on their elevated thrones now whistling like mad. I think they, like me, were unsure what to do next.
I caught my breath, looked around at all the gawkers below, then looked down at Grandpa one last time.
KERPLUNK!
I hit the water with a splash, bubbled up to the water’s surface flailing and coughing, and there was Grandpa laughing. “I got yah, I got yah.”
The leap into Love is like this. You work hard to get up the nerve. You climb the steps. Your knees really do start knocking. Then you get to the edge and you want to call it all off. “The leap is too much,” an inner voice nags. But then you listen and the voice of Love is laughing saying, “Don’t worry, I’ll catch you, come on!”
But for what seems like a lifetime you are frozen in fear stuck high up on that platform. And the so-called lifeguards are blowing their obnoxious whistles like they don’t have any other idea what to do. So you finally just go ahead and jump. Love catches you and you feel exhilarated.
In our lives, this climb up the steps, the insecurity, and the ensuing doubt and fear can last for years or even decades. Love will catch you if you just surrender. But you can choose to hang up there on that ledge forever, waiting for someone to push you off or rescue you, but it never happens. Because it's your leap. And it’s a long way down.
But Love will catch you. You just have to take the leap.
