Many years ago on a family vacation we found ourselves at a pool with a high diving board. The old 3-meter kind you rarely see anymore. My middle daughter, Brittany, was entranced. Only 8 years old at the time, she was determined to jump from the high dive.
There was only one problem. She was terrified.
Captivated and terrified. Motivated and paralyzed.
So on the board she stood, shaking in her nervousness. But she would not come down.
"Dad," she asked. "Will it be okay?"
"Yes," I assured her. "You will be fine."
And still she stood.
2 minutes passed.
5 minutes.
So I asked her, "Do you trust me? Do you know that I would never let you do anything that would hurt you?"
She looked me in the eye, stopped shaking, and jumped! And then, she climbed up again and again, all afternoon.
I'm a lot like that. I am compelled to do something, be something, or try something. And I hesitate, afraid of failure or risk or embarrassment. And I ask God, "Will it be okay?" And He asks me, "Do you trust me?"
What my daughter made me realize is that she didn't fully trust me when she jumped. She wanted to believe she could trust me. Jumping was the way to fully know. In other words, her faith and trust were not confirmed until she jumped. After she jumped, when she had walked in her faith in her father, her faith was perfected.
And so, years later, I stand and wonder if I can trust God with what He has called me to. And I ask Him to make my faith perfect before I jump. But it doesn't work that way. My faith is made perfect when I jump.
Are you waiting for God to perfect your faith? Make you complete? Maybe it's time to jump.