The Flyer and Catcher

by Ray Reuter on December 19, 2013

FlyingIn a traditional flying trapeze act, flyers mount a narrow board and take off on the fly bar. The flyer must wait for a call from the catcher to make sure they leave at the correct time. If leave too early or too late, the catcher will not be close enough to the flyer to make a successful catch. As you can imagine, once leaving the board on the fly bar, and flying through the air with a variety of twists and tricks, the flyer must have complete trust in the catcher.

The flyer is often perceived as the star of the show, but the real star is the catcher. The catcher has to be there with split-second precision and grab the flyer out of the air. While tumbling through the air, in the direction of the catcher, the flyer must not try to catch the catcher. The flyer must do nothing and allow the catcher to do everything. After all the flips and spins, the flyer has only one thing to do … stretch out their arms and hands and wait to be safely caught. A flyer must fly, and a catcher must catch, and the flyer must trust, with outstretched arms, that the catcher will be there.

If the flyer panics and tries to grab the swinging catcher, the flyer will fail and fall to the ground. The worst thing the flyer can do is to try to catch the catcher. Success depends on absolute confidence that the catcher is there, absolute reliance on the catcher’s ability to catch, absolute dependence on the catcher and no other, absolute assurance the catcher will catch. The flyer must trust the catcher fully and completely, without doubt.

This vivid scene resonates with me as I go throughout my day / life with my repertoire of tricks, tasks, to-dos, wants, desires, responsibilities, obligations, duties – flying through the air as if I am the star of the show. But wait … to be a successful flyer requires me to not do anything except to completely trust my catcher, my Heavenly Father, with all my heart. I’m not supposed to catch God, but  allow God to catch me. Simply stretching out my arms and hands – without fear – and trusting …

So as we fly into this Christmas season, and into the new year, keep in mind the Catcher.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

 

 

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