The saying goes "When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on!" Obviously a person must have some sort of control of their situation if they can tie a knot and then hang on. But what if you are a ball attached to the end of the rope, tethered to a pole with no control of your situation at all?Oh, I wish I could have tied a knot and held on these past couple of weeks. One minute I was peacefully hanging at the end of a rope swaying to the rhythm of life when all the sudden I was hit with a force that sent me flying in circles through the air.
At first I wished I hadn't been tethered at all. That way, the force of the punch could have sent me sailing through the air to an unknown destination leaving the circumstances of the punch well out of sight. It would have been much easier to bear the pain and assess the damage.
No chance . . . I was tethered -- while circling at such speed I didn't even see the pole until I felt the pain of impact and the tight grip of the cord. Tie a knot and hold on, why I couldn't even move as the situation unfolded around me. Why couldn't I have just flown through the air and away from the pain? Why did I have to be tethered?
Why? Because I am tethered! I am tethered to Jesus Christ . . . the One who will "Never leave me nor forsake me." As I felt the pain and helplessness of the situation, I began to feel the tightness of the wrapped cord as an embrace that kept me stable. As the race of my heart begin to decrease, I realized the pole in which I was I tethered was my anchor. Seriously, where would I have landed if I hadn't been attached to my anchor? What arms would have been there to embrace me through the pain?
Today, by the glory and grace of God I am being unwound at a slow gentle pace as the hurts and disappointments are washed away by the wind of God's Spirit. Soon I will once again be swaying to the rhythms of life THANKFUL that I am tethered to my Saviour and Lord. And the next time I am hit with life's painful circumstances, . . . I will count it all joy. Because once again I will "wind up" face to face with the ONE who is my tether.
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