Letting Go

Thomas loves to climb, and he loves to be like Daddy.  So one of the first things he climbed into was the chair I sit in for dinner.  Tiff, Thomas & I eat dinner together almost every night, and most nights we are sitting around the table near our kitchen.
Thomas had climbed up and sat down at the table, but decided pretty quickly that was not the place he wanted to be.  So he started to work his way down.  He grabbed onto an edge of the chair to shimmy his way down, and he got stuck.  His legs dangled just an inch from the floor, but they would not reach.  He squirmed to try to feel secure.  Then the greatest/worst groan came from him, "Dada!  Dada!"
It fills you simultaneously with love and dread.  I had watched the entire thing, and knew what was going on.  But the cry still makes you stand on end.
I tried to respond in a calm voice, "Just let go."  The flailing on the chair got worse not better, and the grip on the chair tightened.  "Thomas, just let go.  Don't you trust Daddy," I told him as I started to draw close to him.  No answer came, but for a tighter grip.  The more I tried to console him, the less he was going to be consoled.  Finally I reached the chair, and his hands loosened long enough to trade the edge of the chair for two fingers.  I eased him back the inch so his feet were on terra firma and he let go.  All crying stopped, and he was happy again.
Did anything really change when I moved him an inch?  In reality, very little, but in Thomas' world everything changed.  He went from danger & fear to safety & faith.  Could he have found the same results on his own?  He could have.  Could he have found the same results listening to me?  Absolutely.  But he did not.  He waited and stalled.  The safety of knowing where he was, even though he was scared was easier than letting go.  How often do we do that?  How often do we stay where we are, even though it is not where we want to be simply because it is safer or easier than letting go?  How many times have we heard God speak to us, and waited, waited for something more tangible to drop us to safety?  I will say I have done that more times that I would like to admit.