A Word About Fulcrums

I recently watched two children as they played on a teeter totter one leisurely afternoon. Up and down, up and down, each of them sitting on their end of that board. I suspected they might be twins; they looked identical, and they were the same size as they bounced back and forth, perfectly balanced. I sat for many moments watching them, and my mind went back to a memory I have of my own experience with a teeter totter.

When I was a little boy, my grandpa was the superintendent of Alley Springs State Park in Missouri. A wonderful setting for camping, hiking, and enjoying the beauty of the Ozarks. And part of the attraction of the park —at least for boys like me and my brother Dan — was the swings and the teeter totters my grandpa had installed in the play area. These were no ordinary swings. Built with sturdy galvanized steel and chains, and anchored in deep concrete foundations. My brother and I would have contests to see who could swing the highest on one of those swings, soaring into the sky. Back and forth, up and down. Not a care in the world.

And when we got on the teeter totter, we went up and down, too. But not in perfect balance. I was older than Dan. I weighed more. And if we wanted to teeter totter, we had to move the fulcrum under the board toward me, so we could balance. If we didn’t do that, it was easy for me to allow my weight to suspend Dan dangling in the air on his end, to the point that his feet would never even touch the ground.

I haven’t been on a teeter totter in a long time … or have I? How many times, I wonder, have I noticed that life has its ups and downs? How many opportunities have I had in God’s play yard, where I experienced the back and forth of life’s difficult and challenging moments. As I think about it now, there are two twin realities that have tremendous influence on how high or low my life can seem to be. Those realities are doubt and trust.

When my confidence is shaken by the heavy weight of doubt, my trust seems up in the air, for sure. And there is only one remedy I know of. My life is anchored in the person of Jesus, so as I move toward the Fulcrum of my life, as I remind myself that He is at the center of my journey, that simple act of acknowledging Him brings balance and restores my heart.

I doubt that the Psalmist had teeter totters on his mind when he wrote Ps. 94. But he was certainly thinking about his balance when he wrote in v. 19: “When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.” Doubt and trust are at two ends of a teeter totter. And the Fulcrum point is the comfort that only Jesus can provide.