Life Kites

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I have a mental bucket list, it's not that I think about it at all, but when something comes up that I want to do I realize it has been on that imaginary list the whole time. For example, to successfully fly a kite is on that list. I built a kite once, in fourth grade with my whole class, it was a miserable failure. If you are flying handmade, still wet kites in the windless desert around twenty other kids you cannot expect much. Anyhow, to fly a kite successfully has always been on my imaginary bucket list. So when we got kites in our baskets for Easter I was pumped up with the excitement and hope of a successful kite flying adventure.

We went to the park today and built our kites. Anika's and I's were one type, Soren's another. As soon as I built my kite the wind picked it up and pulled it away, letting it soar in the air. I was delighted, I held tight onto the string and let more and more slack out as I watched my swirly lolipop sun kite fly in the air. Anika's worked great too, and we were happy about it. Poor Soren, his would take off and then nose dive into the ground. The whole time we tried to get his off of the ground and failed, while mine and Anika's flew perfectly in the air.

As I held onto my kite and admired it flying through the sky on a perfect day, I felt God's presence, and a slightly cheesy analogy coming upon me. I'll start with the God part, the fact that I was flying a kite and fulfilling one of my little, unimportant dreams was so happy for me. It's like God saying, I want to see you delight in all that I give you, and now I am giving you a kite and a pretty day in the park. The slightly cheesy analogy is this, our spiritual lives are, in some ways, like kites. Sometimes it takes little effort on your part to get it off of the ground, God just comes and sweeps you up and lets you have this fantastic adventure while all that you have to do is hold on. Other times, there is hardly wind at all, you can't feel God, and so you don't even bother trying to fly your kite. Other times our spiritual lives are ill founded, like Soren's kite, and because it is not strong enough you just seem to pick up and drop like lead. When all we have to do is launch off and hold on, God does the rest. We need to go to him daily in prayer, and we need to persevere in our relationship with him, when you do it is as easy and beautiful as flying a kite.

Peace and love in Christ,
Alyse