A New Stage Name for Faith

Word Pictures & Metaphors

When you think of faith, what image comes to mind?

Do you think about Jesus’ words in the gospels about having faith like a mustard seed? Or, does the image of a mountain range appear in your mind’s eye (Matthew 17:20)?

Want to know what image comes to my mind when I think of faith? A hummingbird in flight.

Let me tell you the story of how that picture came to be…

Vision Retreat

It was a pleasant drive to the tiny country farmhouse. Towering pines bordered the highway as it followed the dip and rise of the emerging hills. Just three weeks earlier, I had moved. While grateful to be in my new home state, I needed to get away to hear from God, so I packed my overnight bag, hopped into my car, and set my compass for true north.

I arrived at my destination in no time and took in the scene: all around were unbroken vistas, peace, and stillness. I breathed in deeply and exhaled. A gorgeous sunset soon followed, and Day One of my retreat concluded as fireflies lit up the night.

Day Two soon awoke. Originally, I had come with a list of all the questions I hoped God would answer. However, it seemed like his invitation to me in that moment was to scrap my agenda, and just enjoy being with him in gratitude.

So, instead of engaging in the question game, I spent the morning reconnecting with, or, more specifically, re-trusting God’s love for me as I contemplated and counted all the good things he had recently done. The day was taking a different turn than I had planned – I had questions and was on a vision retreat after all – but in looking back, it was the primer I needed.

Power-Point Presentation, Here I Come

In the late afternoon, though, I was camped out on the back porch with my journal. After the morning, I was hoping that God would now paint a vision for what he had next for me. I knew some pieces, but wanted it to be crystal clear. I was looking for the 127 page power-point presentation and I was ready.

Pencil in hand, I journaled down my prayer and what I sensed he was nudging me towards. I finished writing and read over what I’d journaled.

I soon got to the sentence where I’d written the following, “So...these 3 things with you and by faith. By faith because I don’t know how they will come to be, but you are the one to establish them and all I need to do is try, show up, and trust.”

I sat for a moment after reading that sentence.

In the space of about 15-seconds, my heart and mind felt all the “faith-in-action” feelings. I felt the “This is crazy!” feeling. The “How will this work out?” feeling. The “Will this even work out?!” feeling. The “Who do I think I am?” feeling. And the “Hmm, what’s the timeline on this?” feeling. All the feelings!

BUT, during that same 15-second pause, a moment of decision also surfaced, and I perceived that I had a choice to make.

  • Would I believe as fact what I had just written? That God was the one to establish everything? That all I needed to do was try, show up, and trust?

  • Would I receive it as true, so true that my very actions themselves would mirror and serve as evidence that I believed the words I professed?  

  • And, if so, would I believe without, or before, the 127-page power point?!

Amidst the slew of feelings, my heart said yes – yes to believing before seeing. Yes to not knowing fully, but moving forward anyways. Yes to faith.

As I relaxed again, I looked up from my journal to the cornfields before me. It was then, right at that moment, that a small hummingbird flew towards me from OUT OF NOWHERE.

About 2.5 feet away from my face, it stopped and hovered. I froze and stared at it. It seemed to stare back at me! It was so bold that I thought it might take a dive at me and I wondered if I should make my exit. But then, just as quickly as it came, it pivoted and flitted up and away, as if to say, “Girrrrllll, I was just playing wit’cha. Peace.”

Cheeky little thing.

As it disappeared out of sight, I gasped from the shock and wonder of it. Then God spoke to my heart right then and there: “That’s the vision I want to give you. A vision of what faith in me is like. Be like this hummingbird. Believe and dare boldly.”

Mike drop. Metaphor received.

Hummingbird Theology

You see, a hummingbird flies in all dimensions – forwards, backwards, to the side, diagonally and upside down. Because it isn’t encumbered by its own weight, it can move about freely. Bold and daring, it moves quickly and decisively when it’s time. And it’s always time! Best of all, however, it’s playful while at it, as though it believes nothing is impossible despite its size.

This is the picture of faith that I want to offer you…a picture of lighthearted confidence in God, because of a greater dependence and belief in his love for you.

Circling back to the idea of the “primer” for a minute, when we are secure in God’s love, we become free. We become free because our identity and value is no longer rooted in what we do or the world’s standards of success.

Thus unfettered, we are free to take risks for his kingdom because we are no longer afraid of failure or success. The fear of being disappointed and “getting it wrong” also loosens its grip. When God gave me that picture of faith, my need to have all my questions answered flitted away with that little bird.

Friends, faith flows easier when we believe we are loved and rest in whose we are. This is what I needed to be reassured in earlier in the day and God knew it. He couldn’t just tell me what was next because I probably wouldn’t have believed him if he had, so he needed to fortify me in his love before I could fully embrace a sense of true kingdom possibility.

Since faith doesn’t come from receiving all the details, and because it isn’t self-generated from within ourselves, why not focus on his love which sparks faith? It’s his love that nurtures a sense of possibility because, when our hearts and minds catch a glimpse of the everything that is him, and his heart for us, not only is belief born, but our actions naturally fall in line too.

Therefore, let’s be like a hummingbird with the faith to match. Let’s lay down our tendency to try to “gear up enough faith” on our own. Let’s release our preoccupation with getting all our questions answered before we believe. Instead, why don’t we let him love us today? And then, as faith arises, let’s bravely believe and, with a good measure of cheek, freely dare for his kingdom. This is Hummingbird Theology, my new stage name for faith.

Kemi

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