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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.
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.
-- Lessons From Life, Chapter 12 - Free To Soar - Wayne B. Lynn |
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