There was a man walking along the top of a cliff, and as he went on his carefree way, he tripped . . . and fell over the edge.  Now it happened that half way down the cliff face there was a tree growing horizontally out from a crevice in the rock, and as he fell, the man grabbed hold of the tree and held on for dear life.  Unable to move up or down, with the cliff top high above and the sea and rocks far below, his position seemed hopeless.  Nevertheless he looked up and began to shout, “Is there anyone up there?”  And a voice came back saying, “Yes, I am here.”  So the man shouted, “Who are you?”  And the voice said, “I am God.”  “Please help me,” shouted the man.  “Do you believe in me?” asked God.  “Yes, I do believe; please help me!” the man cried desperately.  “Do you trust me?” God asked.  “Yes, yes, I trust you; please help me!” the man begged.  God said, “Let go of that tree.”  The man thought about this for a moment, then looked up and shouted, “Is there anyone else up there?” . . .

We cannot really be close to God unless we have great faith, hope, and charity, and we cannot normally have these unless we have been tested or tempered by situations in which it is very difficult to exercise such virtues, situations that may seem to be practically impossible.  But all things are possible for God, and when, through circumstances and events beyond our control, we seem to have fallen over a cliff, that is the time to let go of the tree and not look around feverishly, crying out, “Is there anybody else up there?”  Certainly there will come a day when there will be nothing else we can do, for it will be the end of our life on earth, and we will have to accept death when it comes and not rebel against God at that precious moment. . .

When things are hard, when our faith is put to the test, when we feel our own weakness most, that is the time for a large step forward into the presence and real care of God.  We ought to be glad and rejoice when our faith is strained, as it were, when our love is stretched, when our hope has to face causes of despair.  These are the times for real growth and real acts of true faith, hope, and charity.  These are the times when we simply believe or hope or love out of sheer loyalty to God, out of sheer adherence to the truth that God is Our Father, and God is good, and for those who love God, all things work together for good.  If we only realized the immense value and effects of practicing faith or hope or charity when there seems to be nothing but arguments against them, we should never lose a single chance to grow closer to God in these ways.

There may well be times when God Himself wants us to face the precipice in our lives, and this is particularly true of anyone who really seeks an unusually close and intimate union with God.  There are so many twists and turns of self-love and worldly motivation in our hearts that with most of us our faith is not nearly so supernatural and strong as we think.  It is propped up by many human impurities.  If we are to be really close to God, our faith has to be pure faith, belief, and trust based on God alone and not on anything or any consideration from ourselves.  The situation symbolized by the man hanging on to the tree on the cliff face gives us a picture of the sort of situation where no human supports can deceive us as to the presence or absence of true faith.  The point is reached where we either trust God and let go, or we do not trust God and fall through sheer inability to hang on any longer.  For those who love God, no matter how high the precipice and no matter how we came to fall over it, the arms of God are waiting for us at the bottom. . .

If we have faith, God will not do all things in the way we think He will; He may not rescue us in the way we expect.  But He will most certainly save us, and with some of us, whose efforts are very poor indeed and who do not seem to succeed in being faithful at all but keep on feebly trying and feebly hoping and feebly praying, God comes especially close, not because of any greatness in us, but because we are so small and trust Him even in that condition, even because of it.

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