A Little Tale About Faith

One beautiful fall afternoon, there was a man hiking in the mountains who slipped over the edge of a cliff. As he was falling, he reached out and grabbed a thick vine sticking out of the rocks. Gasping it tightly, he secured himself and realized he wasn't going to fall any further. As he hung there looking at the vine, he was able to see it that it was very strong, anchored securely, and would hold him for as long as he needed it to do so. Just to his left, though, he saw another smaller vine swaying back and forth in the wind. The smaller vine was not attached to anything that he could see and didn't look as strong as the one he held. So, he held on to the strong vine and waited for help. After some time he began to hear the rescue efforts above him and knew there was help coming. Unfortunately, he could not see them. Amid all the noise of the rescue effort and blowing winds, the rescuers could not see or hear him either. Eventually, he came to realize that holding on to the strong, secure vine would keep him safe, but would not change the situation he was in. After considering his options, he decided to take a chance and grab the smaller vine. Gently tugging on it to test it, he discovered it was attached to something up above and was secure enough to hold his weight. Slowly releasing his grip on the strong vine, he cautiously began to climb up the smaller vine. As he progressed up the vine, the rescue party was able to catch a glimpse of him. Immediately, they dropped strong ropes and rescuers came down to help him to safety.

While there are probably several morals one could take from the story, what I hope comes through is this, reaching new heights requires we release our grip on what we have and trust what we hear from above.