Falling on Your (and my) Face

Thought Design with Mark Mabry

Several months ago I wrote an instagram post entitled “falling on your face”. And now, this morning I find myself in a unique position of getting to take my own advice. Let me read the original post real quick and then I’ll elaborate.

The value of falling on your face. I love the story of the leper who jumped through the crowd and “fell on his face” to get Jesus’ attention. Specifically, I love the “fell on his face” part.

The New Testament mentions at least two incidents of falling on one’s face. The second story feels little more complex. It was when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane discussing the “bitter cup” with His Father. Sensing the terror of the night and the following day, Jesus prayed with all of His might and then went a little further and “fell on His face” to give His will over to God.

Today we meme the performer, the entrepreneur, the athlete, the salesman, the job applicant, or the nervous teenager DM’ing her crush for - "falling on their face" as if they somehow shouldn’t have even tried.

Wait, What? No!

We have it all wrong.

Falling on your face gets the leprosy cured. Falling on His Face was part of Jesus saving mankind from hell.

The privilege of falling on your face comes to the few who are not satisfied with their known universe. They are finally ready to step into the void- where God answers the good questions.

The persecution and the shade thrown by the crowd is the devil’s way of making sure that too many of us don’t ever feel the transcendent power generated by falling due to exhaustion and then getting back up.

Look at the poise and focus of the performer who has ever bombed and then got back on stage.

God respects #fullsend effort.

(and here goes the part that hit me this morning). If you’re thinking “I don’t have any dreams big enough to generate a face fall”… then there you go. Discovering your ministry is a wonderful opportunity to fall on your face while it’s only still between you and God.

Think of how sincere your prayers will get. Think of how inspired your family will be by your guts and faith.

Yes! #Sendit

Okay, now back to my story. This morning I woke up with a question mark In my mind. The interesting thing about this question mark. Is that it didn’t even have a question attached. So I initiated my normal morning routine, Big glass of water, scripture study, permitting myself to chase random thoughts for a little while before I take in any media… kiss Tara and the kids, go on a run in the park. Basically, I was treading water until the question appeared in front of the?. I was completely void of something to punch, or a concrete goal to lean into…. in other words I couldn’t put my finger on a specific problem to solve today.

Let me get specific and personal, because it might help you in your own situation. Several months ago I was prompted to think about the effect of music more. The more I dug into that prompting, the more I felt like we needed to move in Nashville. However, the roadmap ended right there it’s as if God was saying, just get there and I’ll give you the rest of the map. Well the last few weeks were a little bit crazy and “getting here“ was emotionally a much heavier lift then anticipated. Still is. But this morning is the first morning that I’ve had the energy and the courage to face that blank roadmap. The hard part about a blank page is that even though you are completely willing to fall in your face and make an idiot of yourself in pursuit of something concrete, you still don’t know what that concrete thing is. And personally, If I’m going to fail publicly, I would at least like to fail at doing the right thing than fail (or even succeed) at doing the wrong thing. You see, For a believer, somebody that believes that God has a purpose for him or her, the blank page is both empowering and intimidating. We feel like we should be sprinting in a direction, In fact, we are willing to wear our lives sprinting in a God appointed direction, but what if the mission doesn’t require sprinting yet? What if it requires sitting still and studying and thinking, which is sometimes tough because it makes it even more awkward it looks like you’re doing nothing. And looking lazy in front of those you love is even more daunting than falling on your face in front of a crowd.

If I’ve learned anything over the last few years It’s that when My daily activities don’t align with my ministry, even if I’m 18 hours-a-day looking busy, even if I’m depositing checks… I leave a lot on the table. I am not fullfilled and in that condition I’m anything but inspiring to my family or myself.

If I let myself get pulled into some pursuit of that doesn’t lift me out of bed in the morning with my hair on fire, perhaps I ought to check with God to find out if I’m even in the right Forrest. Because once we are sure that we’re in the right forest, it’s just a matter of drive and energy to start chopping down trees.

I hope this little thought might give someone out there pause to think about whether they are in the field or place that God intended… and that you might be empowered to stop “looking busy” for a moment in order to find your path.