“If you’re at the end of your rope... untie
the knot in your heart.”
—Cooper Edens
Desperation inevitably leads to
frustration. But when we are sick and tired of being sick and tired, we are
ready to turn in a new direction. Having banged our heads against the wall for
long enough, our metaphorical foreheads bruised and bloodied, we turn away from
the wall and face our lives afresh.
Insight to turn the corner comes
when we have reached the pinnacle of our pain.
It’s almost as if God had to bring
us to this point—to the absolute end of ourselves—before he could convince us
his way is best. Now that we accept God’s way is the best way we add our
passion to the Divine will and begin trudging the long and happier road to our
destiny.
How long is the rope?
Getting to the end of our grief is
not easy. We only realise we have done all our grieving in hindsight—having reached acceptance. And though some
grieving lasts and lasts, where only fleeting senses of acceptance are
possible, most of life is about continuing to adjust and moving on.
When life has become like a length
of rope, and we have been distracted from our previous purpose, because some
painful interruption has occurred, we begin to wonder where and when the end
will appear.
But God is using these times to
refine us, in patience.
As we continue to pull on the
rope, which is the metaphor for the season of life where ongoing pain exists,
the best thing we can do is continue to pull, faithfully, until the end of the
rope appears. This is a searching for the insight with which to turn the
corner.
Taking the Corner When It Appears
It’s possible that the only thing
that remains to be done as the end of the rope appears is to untie our stubborn
hearts. Where frustration exists we learn to let go.
Turning the corner itself is
probably a simple process, but it’s taken us long enough to get here.
Of course, we have to be careful
it’s the right corner we take. Sometimes our frustration ‘forces’ us over the
edge into a route we will inevitably regret; our lack of patience has
misinterpreted what appears to be the end of the rope.
***
All bad and painful seasons come
to a close. When the new light dawns, and we’re ready to take that new step,
we’re encouraged to be ready to step into what’s coming.
© 2012 S. J. Wickham.
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