Let go of the Ropes

A friend sent me an interesting email the other
day that really got me to thinking.

The email told of a story about a man who wanted to climb the world's tallest mountain,so he prepared for many years to accomplish this. So he would not have to share this glory with anyone else, he climbed alone.

The story goes on to tell of how one night while climbing, he fell.
As he felt himself spiraling out of control, he felt the rope he'd tied around his waist thankfully pull him hard and and his fall was broken.

Held in place by this rope, the man cried out to God to help him.
God's response to him...

"Let go of the rope."

It was here that I paused while reading the story and I had to ask myself the question:
Would I have let go of that rope?

And then another thought came.

What ropes do I need to let go of in my own life? And would I trust God by cutting them or would I continue to hold on to them?

Its easy to trust God, when life is going well. When the sun is shining in our lives and the wind ceases to blow, its easy to talk of our faith in God.

But what I've learned, is that trust isn't born in times of peace, but yet its a choice I must purpose in my heart before the first whisper of wind ever blows in my life,

And neither is faith something I just use as decoration for my spiritual vocabulary, but rather its rooted in the very depths of my soul and I use it every day, at all times.

The conclusion of this story tells how a rescue group found the man a few days later. He had frozen to death while still clutching the rope. Ironically, he was only 10 feet from the ground. Had he let go of the rope as God has instructed, he'd have lived to tell this story himself.

As we begin a new year, and for many of us a new start in life, it would serve us well to clean out the closets of our hearts and let go of those ropes we hold on to that deter us from the plans God has for each of our lives.

We can either choose to keep holding onto these ropes, or we can let go and trust that the hand of God can not only keep us from falling, but can carry us upward and onward as we strive to gain new heights in the newness of every day.

What ropes do you need to let go of?