Untangling: Part One

Some of you already know this, but let me bring everyone up to date: Joanna and I feel like the summer of 2010 is a season for us to “untangle.”

The metaphor comes from my boyhood when I spent countless hours fishing—often on the banks of the Mississippi River. Every time I fished, it was inevitable that I would need to untangle my line. Innumerable are the ways a kid-fisherman can get his line tangled, and I found most of them. As a result, I would take a seat on the river bank to sort out the mess I had caused. My fishing was delayed for a few minutes, but once untangled, I was free to cast out again. No one can fish effectively with a tangled line.

As Joanna and I take a seat on the river bank together, we find that our lives are entangled in a half dozen ways. We’re proactively working and regularly praying that we could get our lives untangled from these things in the months to come so that we would be free to cast out again.

For example, I’ve wanted to complete a doctoral program for fifteen years. I’ve been enrolled in one for five. It’s time to finish. It has become a knot in my line and I need to sort it out. I have November 3 set aside on my calendar for my oral defense. The end is in sight! But, like a kid on the riverbank, it’s time to plop my back side down in a chair and do what needs to be done.

Another example: While our home served us well during the years I was healthy and the kids were home, it is now another tangle in our line. It’s a great home. We’ve loved it. Yet, this is a season to simplify our finances, yard maintenance, etc. (By the way, we’ve had people from the church take over our yard care since my illness. The body of Christ has been so kind to us. But how long does one impose on this kindness?) All this to say, our home is on the market. A realtor’s sign—looking so out of place—hangs by our driveway. I was surprised by the emotion I felt when I saw it … but it’s time.

Being released from the feeding tube would be another major “untangle” experience. God continues to strengthen my swallowing. I am clearly improving. Yet, I still need the tube. “Feeding Tube Freedom Day” will be exciting! I’ll keep you posted. Meanwhile, I munch and pray. (I have a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios beside me as I write this.)

So, now you know some of what Joanna and I have been working on and praying about in recent weeks. Selling a home kicks all manner of activity into action: cleaning closets, maintenance projects and garage sales (yes, it will take more than one.) Finishing a doctorate has a list of it’s own. But with each box sorted or final project page written, we’re making incremental progress toward our untangling goal.

More on this later. I think the Lord is taking this metaphor a step further in my life, but give me another week to process it.

Meanwhile, let me throw on the “pastor hat” and remind us of the well-known instructions found in Hebrews 12, Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. “Throw off”—unburden yourself—and run freely. Wise words.

Jesus himself had something to say about this as well, The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go to on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.

Jesus’ words make me think of some of the vines that grow here in the fertile Pacific Northwest. To the naïve, they look like they are full of “life.” They are green, aggressive and abundant. Yet, in a sense, they carry “death.” Left to grow around your other plants, they will choke them out and take over. You don’t just prune such vines. If you care about your garden or landscape, you poison or uproot them.

So, pick your picture: untangle, unburden or uproot—fishing line, extra baggage or threatening vines. My hunch is, whatever one you choose, you can probably find some way to apply this to your life as well.

Talk to you again soon,

John

PS Got an untangling story of your own? Share it with us. Some of our blog readers benefit as much from the comments as they do from the blog itself.