Soar, Climb, Change Your Perspective

Kites rise highest against the wind - not with it. (Winston Churchill) I know there are lots and lots things we walk through that have absolutely no appeal to us - we'd rather just dismiss them and walk away rather than go through them. What makes it more frustrating for us is the prolonged period of facing those troubles. We don't mind if they 'come and go' as long as they do so quickly. We don't want them hanging around! All kites rise best when there is wind, my friends, and opposing winds help it to soar higher and higher. A kite without the wind is just a little bit of fabric, paper, sticks, and string. With the wind, it is majestic beauty!

My brothers and sisters, you will have many kinds of trouble. But this gives you a reason to be very happy. You know that when your faith is tested, you learn to be patient in suffering. If you let that patience work in you, the end result will be good. You will be mature and complete. You will be all that God wants you to be. James (1:2-4)

Have you ever been in a forested area and observed some form of vine ascending the tall trees around you? Those vines are nothing more than 'ground crawlers' without the tree! Either way, on the ground or climbing the tall trees, they are still vines. They just have different perspectives and challenges! One rises above, the other is content to just crawl along the low places in life. I don't know about you, but I am not content to crawl along the low places in life. I want to climb to new heights and I want to soar as the kite - higher and higher, meeting each opposing wind with strength, endurance, and beauty!

To rise, one faces great opposition. Imagine the little vine trying to make the climb. It has to resist the pull of gravity if it is to climb. Yes, it is equipped with small 'tentacle like' appendages that it sends off to help hold it in place as it wraps its way up the tree. Yes, it has all the resources of being solidly planted in the ground to ensure it continues to grow. Yes, it needs the sunlight to keep growing. But...if it never begins the struggle to move out of the forest floor, it remains a 'bottom crawler' and is subject to the life as limited as that may be. 

To rise, we need to have determined focus to move from where we are to where we will become our best. The kite is designed to soar high. It begins the ascent little by little. As it 'catches the wind', it begins to climb. Just as the tiny vine begins the climb, the kite endures the hardships of opposing forces all around it. The higher it climbs, the easier it becomes to soar as it should. It is where it should be, not in the absence of the opposing forces, but because of them! 

We are made into what we are designed to be not in the absence of those opposing forces in life, but because of them! Let them grow your faith. The kite takes on a new 'form' as it ascends, much like the tiny vine. The vine is able to develop at sometimes astronomical speed as a result of the climb. The kite expands and begins to display its full beauty as it soars high above in the face of those winds. Time to ascend, my friends. Just sayin!