Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Strings

Gulliver swam to the shore and lay on the beach exhausted. His ordeal getting the best of him, he slumbered deeply in the grass he found a short ways from shore. When he awoke, he found himself tied to the ground with strings. His arms and legs secured with said strings tied to pegs driven into the ground. His hair was tied in strands. He was captured. With great effort and much pain, he eventually freed himself. There he discovered his captors, the Lilliputians, a race of people standing only six inches tall, by his standard of measure.

Sometimes, it is all to easy to be captured by the multitude of strings in our lives. Individually, the strings would not nor could not capture or hold us. One by one, we have added the strings that capture us in this life. They tie us to the jobs, relationships, situations, and they anchor our spirits to prevent us from flying free. We don't even notice it until we awaken one day and try to move, only to find that we have been captured by all the small details of our lives.

This is not to say that the small details of our lives, in and of themselves, are bad. I relish my close and personal relationships. I revel in my roles of father and husband. My job is grand. However, it is all too easy to allow myself to be defined by my strings. I am much more than a husband. I am much more than a father, I am much more than an electrician and teacher. I define these roles in my life. They do not define me.

These strings can hold us, bind us, capture us, and stifle us. If we allow it, we will awaken to find ourselves trapped under the strings, lying in the tall grass. We may be the envy of our friends and still be the prisoner of our lives. These strings can bind us or we can tie them to the frames of kites and let them fly brightly and free. I want what I am to be the strings that fly and flip the kites around me, and not the ties that bind me to the ground. They must be the streamers in my life and not the cords that keep me from flying
Give me strings ... Give me freedom ... Give me 'me' ...

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