Free to soar

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Free to soar

 

One windy spring day, I observed young people having fun using the

wind to fly their kites. Multicolored creations of varying shapes and

sizes filled the skies like beautiful birds darting and dancing in

the heady atmosphere above the earth. As the strong winds gusted

against the kites, a string kept them in check.

 

Instead of blowing away with the wind, they arose against it to

achieve great heights. They shook and pulled, but the restraining

string and the cumbersome tail kept them in tow, facing upward and

against the wind. As the kites struggled and trembled against the

string, they seemed to say, " Let me go! Let me go! I want to be

free! " They soared beautifully even as they fought the imposed

restriction of the string. Finally, one of the kites succeeded in

breaking loose. " Free at last " it seemed to say. " Free to fly with

the wind. "

 

Yet freedom from restraint simply put it at the mercy of an

unsympathetic breeze. It fluttered ungracefully to the ground and

landed in a tangled mass of weeds and string against a dead

bush. " Free at last " free to lie powerless in the dirt, to be blown

helplessly along the ground, and to lodge lifeless against the first

obstruction. Subscribe to REACHOUT

 

IN between the lines:-

 

How much like kites we sometimes are. The Lord gives us adversity and

restrictions, rules to follow from which we can grow and gain

strength. Restraint is a necessary counterpart to the winds of

opposition. Some of us tug at the rules so hard that we never soar to

reach the heights we might have obtained. We keep part of the

commandment and (pardon the pun) never rise high enough to get our

tails off the ground.

 

Let us each rise to the great heights our Heavenly Father has in

store for us, recognizing that some of the restraints that we may

chafe under are actually the steadying force that helps us ascend and

achieve.