Free Falling

Winged samaras. That’s the technical name for the maple seeds that spin like helicopters as they leave the tree. Most people call them whirlybirds.

The winged samaras grow holding on to the maple tree and then about this time of year, in the North East, they let go. They let go and fall freely, spinning wildly with beautiful abandon, landing softly on the ground. There the lucky ones sprout roots that dig down into the soil and turn into maple trees.

I want to be a winged samaras. I’m tired of holding on.

I wonder what its like to be a winged samaras. When it comes time to let go is it scary? What is that spinning ride to the ground like? Is it a dizzying flight of spinning terror into the unknown or an exhilarating carnival ride into its God given purpose?

I just want to let go. I want to let go of all the facades and all of the pretenses. I want to stop trying, stop reaching, stop striving and just let go and spin wildly into the air, carried by the wind.

Tom Petty wrote a song that could have been about the winged samaras.

“Gonna free fall out into nothin'. Gonna leave this world for a while.”

Then the anthem like chorus sings a repeated refrain with an air of triumph and joy, “Now I’m Free! Free Fallin’”. I wonder if that’s what it feels like to be a winged samaras, like a triumphant anthem. “Now I’m Free! Free Fallin’”.

Somehow I think that is the key to the Kingdom. Being able to let go. Letting go of all the facades, all of the pretenses. Letting go of all of it and spinning wildly out of control, out of the control of worldly cares and desires, disowning all the stuff the world, and the tv, and the advertising culture, and the people that are afraid to let go have put on us. Letting go and free falling.

Then He (Jesus) said, “God's kingdom is like seed thrown on a field by a man who then goes to bed and forgets about it. The seed sprouts and grows--he has no idea how it happens. The earth does it all without his help: first a green stem of grass, then a bud, then the ripened grain.” (Mark 4:26-28).

There is no striving there, no trying to be something. Just falling to the ground and growing, growing into what God has already placed inside of us, because inside of us all lies the Kingdom.

"The kingdom of God doesn't come by counting the days on the calendar. Nor when someone says, "Look here!' or, "There it is!' And why? Because God's kingdom is already among you." (Luke 17:20-21)

Jesus said that it’s already there. It was planted inside of us. Just like as little seed at the heavy end of the winged samaras was already packed with everything it needed to grow into a maple tree. It just couldn’t realize its purpose until it was ready to let go of the safety of the limb and let go; to let go and free fall, out into nothing.

There is a funny thing about the winged samaras, too, that just struck me. They don’t all let go at once. I wonder if one day, one of them says, “That’s it. I don’t want to do this anymore. I’m letting go.” And then, trusting in God, it lets go and free falls safely to its God given purpose. Then out of all the winged samaras that watched a few more start to think, “Me too. I’m letting go.” And one by one, sometimes alone, sometimes in small groups, they let go and spin wildly into their purpose.

In the church we would call that a revival. In the solitude of a heart that’s tired of holding on to the suffocating unreality of this world’s culture, its called free falling.

That’s it. I talked myself into it. I've seen others do it and blossom down on the ground below me. So that's it, I’m letting go. See you on the ground, my friend.

“Now I’m Free!!! Free Falling!!!”