¨But Jesus immediately said unto them: ¨Take courage! It is I. Don´t be afraid!¨ ¨Lord, ¨if it´s you,¨ Peter replied, ¨tell me to come to you on the water.¨ ¨Come,¨ He said. Then, Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came towards Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, cried out, ¨Lord, save me.¨ Immediately, Jesus reached out His hand and caught him. ¨You of little faith,¨ he said, ¨why did you doubt?¨
· Matthew 14:27-31 NIV
Windows…
If you think about it, J.M. Bairre, author of Peter Pan, spent 362 pages talking about what happened when you shut them and when you chose to leave them open.
To be fixated on the opening and closing of windows, he must have known a thing or two about shutting down, shutting out and boarding up entryways to keep the bad stuff out.
I wonder if that’s why he created Wendy Darling in the confinements of his mind…
A girl brave enough to follow a boy out a window…
A girl kind enough to look after Lost Boys.
Wendy, at first, was reluctant to leave her comfort zone. I’m sure that we can all relate to that…
But because she chose to take the hand of a wild boy that night, she didn’t dream of adventure. She LIVED it. She allowed the air to flutter beneath her feet, no choice but to have absolute trust in the one who had beckoned her to the window’s ledge.
Because of a boy that braved a shut-tight window, Wendy was able to close her eyes, hop the second floor and find a happy thought towards the moon. It was this happy thought and Peter’s hand that led her to an adventure, a world where boys never grow up, first kisses are frozen in time and fairies are real… and good things happen in the midst of the scary stuff.
In looking back, God’s grace shown through so vibrantly and vividly in Wendy Darling and her Lost Boy’s story. He was brave because she couldn’t’ be and she was the voice of reason that reigned Peter in when he’d rather chase a shadow than stand still. God operates as both voices – inviting us to brave and reminding us to be wise. He also works in bringing us tribe, relationships, and friends to help us find the strength to soar.
“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.” -Isaiah 40:31
While there are so many lessons to learn from J.M. Bairre’s classic tale of young love, the greatest is this… no one must be brave alone. We are braver together – especially when God is the One who beckons us to the window. We must learn to stop closing our shutters. And risk leaving them open…
And letting others in.
“Two are better than one… if one falls down, he can help the other up.”- Ecclesiastes 4:9 NIV