All Tied Up in Knots

Here I am again with inspiration-overload from my youngest grandson, Bryson. This time it comes from his wall climbing lesson at Crux Climbing Center (indoor wall climbing of gigantic proportions). He has moved on up (literally) in his skills to the “advanced” level – going 30 feet up -- climbing with the safety of a rope held by his instructor while Bryson uses his legs and arms to grab hold of the strategically placed holds. He grabs the rope, brings it up and hooks it into a clip. I am so impressed. His birthday is next week and all he has asked for is to go with his instructor to scale a nearby mountain.

Yesterday I noticed that his instructor checked how he had knotted his safety rope. Bryson thought he was good to go, but he had missed one of the ties. Yikes! That was a KNOT – he couldn’t get wrong. It was a life-saving knot. There really are times when a knot is essential – like “tying the marriage knot” – that we hope it lasts a lifetime. Tight knots in the rope are absolutely necessary in wall or rock climbing, at the end of a fishing line with a hook and lure on it to catch a fish, or a knot that holds an anchor to the rope to keep that boat or ship from drifting. There are knots we need and those we don’t. What about those knots in our lives that we don’t need – like the two knots I have in one of my favorite necklaces or the knot that was in Bryson’s yo-yo yesterday that kept him from a good spin!

Or what about the "knots" we get in our stomachs that represent a concern or worry? Sometimes we need to untie some of the “knots” that keep our minds and our hearts in bondage. Often, they are “knots” of our own wrong thinking, “knots” that we’ve allowed to burrow deep into our souls and become permanent residents there.

I'm going to use a "play on words" to encourage us to let go of some KNOTS – the have-nots, the can-nots, and the am-nots. All of these nots are legitimately knots that keep us tangled up in woe is me, poor me, and not me. For example, we can get all tied up in the "have nots" when we focus on what we don’t have instead of being thankful for what we do have. A post of mine from 2016 showed up in my memories timeline and I saw the homes of people in Mexico who truly have almost nothing of this world’s goods, but I was again amazed at their contentment, their joy in the midst of what we would call deep poverty. We classify them as the have nots of this world, and yet they displayed more contentment and purpose in life than lots of us do here where our lives are crowded with stuff. We can untie ourselves from the have-nots by developing a thankful attitude. To start each day with a focus on being gratefu by saying, “Thank you, Jesus,” at every point in our day—for the sunshine, for safety, for good health, for friends. Being thankful will set us free from the have-nots!

And then there are the can-nots where we talk ourselves out of stepping out and doing something because we tell ourselves we can-not do it? Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through Christ Who gives me strength." That means that everything God intends for us to do, we can do it in His ability and strength in us!

And, finally, one more “knot” that has many of us tangled up is the am-not. How often we focus on all our am-nots instead of focusing on the WHO we are in Jesus Christ. For example, the times when we think or declare “I am not qualified,” “I am not good enough,” “I am not as good as others”? Oh, how the enemy of our soul loves to keep us looking at ourselves instead of looking at the child of God, royal heir, who was purchased with a great price. When God sees us in Christ, He doesn’t see our mistakes of the past; He sees the righteousness of His Son. God never compares us with others; He takes us where we are, gives us hope for the future, and assures us that nothing can separate us from His love.

It's time for us, by God’s grace, to get rid of the have-nots, can-nots and am-nots that we’ve harbored far too long. Don’t believe the enemy’s lies any longer. When you get all tied up in KNOTS, just quote this scripture from Romans 8:38-39 “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Only Listen to the RIGHT Voices!

I did my flight training at a small airport in Cleveland, OK. Getting my pilot’s license was my husband’s idea. Since we often flew cross country with our children on board, he felt it important that I should, at least be able to land the plane….just in case the unthinkable happened to him. He was an extremely conscientious pilot, so very thorough, and did everything according to flight regulations. He took no chances. I think he was prouder for me than I was of myself when I did my first solo flight. My instructor was the best around, and it was easy to listen and follow any instructions he gave me. He’d coach me when flying with me, and, from the radio while I would be performing a solo flight. On one of my “touch and go” training days (that’s when you repetitively land the plane and take off again), my husband got on the airport radio (mind you, this was a very small airport) and was pressing upon me to use flaps (they’re on the wings of the plane and they increase the angle of descent for landing, and they slow the aircraft down). Not having practiced landing with flaps without my instructor, I was uneasy about going for it, but I did. And, listening to the WRONG voice coach me, I didn’t account for the slower speed and I barely landed on the runway, AND I took out several runway lights along the way. Thanks be to God, the plane and I survived, but not without incident. Though gentle, my instructor scolded me for listening to a voice, other than his. He knew what I was capable of handling and what I had been adequately trained for, and a landing using full flaps wasn’t one of them.

We have to do much the same thing where the voice of God is concerned. If I’m going to follow the instructions He gave in Proverbs 4:20 “My son (or daughter), attend to my words, incline your ear to my sayings”, I must always be tuned in to what He’s saying to me. I must be continually listening for HIS words…..and none other. In life, just as in the cockpit, that’s not always easy. There are all kinds of voices out there making a lot of noise. But I’m determined not to let them distract me, because God’s voice is the only one I really need to hear. His words are the only ones that can provide a beautiful and abundant life,,,,,and a perfect landing. Other voices can lead me to destruction – His voice is the one to follow!