There's a boardwalk on the Jersey shore. I've walked it while juggling my chair, towel, cooler and umbrella; it's an awkward, bulky load but manageable as long as I am walking on the boards. Step off the boardwalk and onto the sand, though, and it all falls apart. Little grains of sand that move, do not a firm foundation make. If you have ever tried to walk in sand, you know what I'm talking about.
Whether we walk confidently or stumble along can be predicted by the ground under our feet. A firm foundation provides sure footing, a sense of security, confidence in our walk. Lose your balance, and instinctively you reach out for something to steady yourself, something to grab on to. In the same way, when your confidence in yourself is shaken, you reach out for something to steady yourself.
What that looks like, exactly, depends on what foundation you've been laying under your feet. By foundation, I mean those things that make you feel good about yourself, that make you feel "ok". Most likely since childhood, you have been accumulating and recording all kinds of things that have made you feel valuable or loveable. You've learned through reinforcement that, "When I behave a certain way, I get love. This must be good, so I will keep repeating it. When I do this, however, I don't get love or acceptance. This must be bad, I need to hide it and never do it again." While this data has shaped you, it has also taunted you with a sense of shaky confidence. You've built a foundation for how you think and act, but is it solid ground or sinking sand?
Is it based on truth or lies?
Edward Mote, preacher and hymn writer in England during the 1800s, wrote this chorus for his best known hymn,
"On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
all other ground is sinking sand,
all other ground is sinking sand."
On Christ I stand firm, He is solid Rock beneath my feet, anything else but Him is as firm as sand.
Your head tells you that you are standing on that Rock.
Do your feet agree?
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