Dropping In

There's a YouTube video of a little girl about to skateboard a mega ramp for the first time. It took her more than 20 seconds (a long time in YouTube time) to push the front of her skateboard down and begin the descent. She stood there, with the nose of her board facing up, as she stared into the 40-foot drop.

When she pushed the board into the drop, she sped down the ramp and was launched across a 20-foot wide opening that separated the two halves of the wooden structure. Then, in mid-air, her little body and the skateboard parted ways, and she slid smoothly down the other side of the ramp on her knees.

In the following clip, we see her repeating the same process (dropping in, gaining momentum, launching over the gap), but this time she lands the jump, and her momentum carries her up the wall of the other side of the ramp until, again, she and her skateboard separate, and she slides down smoothly on her butt.

This little girl is a powerful picture of overcoming fear. She makes me think: What is my ramp? Where am I afraid to drop in? Where is the nose of my board facing the sky?

Dropping in is a faith practice; it's a place where you can stand at the top of the ramp and learn how to surrender, over and over, to a greater power. Because once you drop in, it's not about your energy anymore. You let go and enter that greater force (here, gravity). Instead of mustering up the speed, we allow it to move through us and learn how to let our bodies channel that power into something beautiful.

She also shows us that we shouldn't expect to land every jump on our first try (I doubt this was a video of her first time on a skateboard). There will be failures. Especially early on. And though her falls were smooth, that's not the whole picture. Not every landing is an adorable glide on our butt. There will be skinned knees, bruised thighs, sprained ankles, wrists, and even broken bones. But we don't drop in because we want to get hurt; we drop in because we want to feel that weightlessness that comes from trust.

There are things we have desired for most of our lives but are still afraid to make the leap. When we drop in, we drop into the creative force that overcomes every fear and transforms our bodies, minds, hearts, and spirits. 

And as we let go and head down the ramp, we realize our drop is actually a dance with gravity, and the descent reminds us that each step we take each day is a little drop. Each step is a fall, a small leap of faith. Whether we're dropping in at one step or off a 60-foot mega ramp, the power is the same.