Tuesday Truth: Kites?

Have you ever read the book "The Kite Runner"? I read it several years ago, and the thing that struck me was the glass-embedded kite strings. In America we look at kite-flying as a fun, carefree leisureactivity... in the Middle East, it's a vicious competition to cut down your opponent's kite by slicing through their string with yours. This results in slashed and bloody hands as the string plays through your fingers...as I was lying in bed with my daughter tonight, waiting for her to fall asleep next to me, I was mulling over how I felt about my life lately. Rather than feeling like the typical "mom" analogy of the juggler who can't keep all the balls in the air, I feel like the kite-flyer, except I'm fiercely holding onto dozens of tangled up strings, each one cutting into my palms as I grip them tighter and tighter in a futile effort to keep my precariously balanced life afloat. Each one threatening to slice through any of the others in an effort to reign supreme in my life. What I realized tonight is that while I'm the one gripping the bloody strings, God is the wind keeping the kites afloat, and Christ is standing behind me, also holding those same strings, trying to guide me into cutting the superfluous or inherently harmful kites loose. If I were to let go of the tangled mess, He would be there to untangle the lines and release me from the pressures I put on myself. Not only that, He's waiting in the wings to be my personal kite-runner; when I cut loose the wrong kite, He's there to run it down and bring me back the kite that He has restored and made new. The only way for me to untangle the mess is to hand over the strings, all of them, so that He can guide them into the breezes God has prepared for me. All I really need to do is grab on and run behind as He flies the kites ahead of me. Easier said than done...but I know I'm ready to loosen my grip.