I was standing with a friend at his garden gate one evening when two little children came by. As they approached us he said to me, “Watch the difference in these two boys.”
Taking one of them in his arms he stood him on the gatepost, and stepping back a few feet he folded his arms and called to the little fellow to jump. In an instant the boy sprang toward him and was caught in his arms. Then turning to the second boy he tried the same experiment. But in the second case it was different. The child trembled and refused to move. My friend held out his arms and tried to induce the child to trust to his strength, but nothing could move him. At last my friend had to lift him down from the post and let him go.
“What makes such a difference in the two?” I asked.
My friend smiled and said, “The first is my own boy and knows me, but the other is a stranger’s child whom I have never seen before.”
There was all the difference. My friend was equally able to prevent both from falling, but the difference was in the boys themselves. The first had assurance in his father’s ability and acted upon it, while the second, although he might have believed in the ability to save him from harm, would not put his belief into action.
So it is with us. We hesitate to trust ourselves to that loving One whose plans for us are far higher than any we have ourselves made. He, too, with outstretched arms, calls us. Would we but listen to His voice we would hear that invitation and promise of assurance as He gave it of old, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor, and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”