Cutting The Ties That Bind

A young boy and his father attended a kite festival one evening. Upon arriving, the boy was in awe of all the beautiful kites floating about in the air. There must've been at least 50 kites being flown by their owners, each one different and significant in its own way; some flying lower, moving to the left and then swooping toward the right and some flying high in the sky, slow and steady.

The boy begged his father to buy him a kite, for he wanted to fly his higher than any of the others. The father and son walked to a nearby booth where many different kites were being sold, some of them were smaller kites for beginners and some of them were very large and required more control and expertise. The boy looked at all the colorful kites and finally decided on one he liked more than the others.

This kite was an intermediate level kite, medium in size, and constructed with neon colors, bright enough to see from a far away distance, containing orange, yellow and green. The father knew it would be diffcult for the young child to control, but he proceeded to purchase the kite for his son.

The boy was overly excited as he rushed back to the field where people were flying their kites. He began to let the string out so the kite would begin to fly. After several minutes of trying to get the kite into the air, his father decided to help him. The man picked up the kite sail while his son held the kite spool, and he instructed his son to let a few more feet of string off the kite spool.

His father thrust the sail up towards the sky, and the wind began to carry the kite high into the air. Feeling accomplished, the boy smiled as he let out a few more feet of the kite string. The kite ascended further into the sky, several times diving toward the ground, but then finding its way back up, higher and higher into the heavens.

The young boy was satisfied only momentarily, for when he looked at all the other kites, they were higher in the sky than his. He unraveled more of the kite string from its spool, hoping his kite would reach higher into the atmosphere than all the other kites. Soon, he had unthreaded all of the kite string, and noticed there were many other kites still flying much higher than his kite. Disappointed, he turned to his father for help.

"Can we just cut the string? The kite will fly higher in the sky than theirs," he said, pointing to the kites in the skies.

His father reluctantly agreed. Pulling a pocket knife from his pocket, he cut the string and watched as the kite flew up into the sky.

"See," the young boy said. "It is higher than all the other kites!"

The kite flew higher and higher for only a moment, and then began to descend. The boy watched as the kite made its way to the ground.

Confused, the boy asked his father, "Why did it fall to the ground?"

"Well, son, oftentimes, when we reach the height of our life, we think things that are tied to us are holding us back. The string is the most important part of flying a kite. That string supports the kite and when we cut it, the kite no longer has something to direct it which way to go or even to guide it through the skies, so it gets lost because it is no longer supported by the string."

----------

Much like the kite, if we cut the string thinking it is holding us back, we may lose the most important thing in our life. Often, we tend to cut our ties with people who have been guiding us and supporting us through the very most important events in our lives. We then find ourselves floating around slowly, getting lost in the heaviness of life, and sometimes even falling to the ground, with no one there to pick us up.

The people in our lives that have been supporting us all along are the string we need to keep as afloat. Consider them a lifeline, of sorts. Think for a moment about how you achieved the highest point in your life. Did you get there all by yourself? If not, who are the people that guided you through the toughest times, and helped you reach the heavens?

Today, I encourage you to let your strings guide you. The people in your life who have helped you succeed and obtain greatness, allow them to direct you; allow them to support you. More than likely, they are part of the reason you are who you have become.