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~ GUEST AUTHOR ~

(The guest author's name has been withheld by request.)

Hanging On By a Thin Thread

The climber, dressed in belts, clips and ropes, grips the cold rock wall. His focus is stern as he wrestles with the face of the mountain. His faith rests in the mighty rope extending to the anchor above. Every move is contemplated and calculated, but still his foot slips…then his hands…until the wall is a distant friend and he dangles hundreds of feet above the canyon. His heart pounds as he finds security only in the integrity of the rope.

Suddenly, the rope shifts and begins to unravel. One by one, the twines let loose. Panic sets in as the climber clutches the rope, his hands shaking under the intensity of the grip and his knuckles turning white; one thread between life and death…one thread.

The climber’s rope – broken and frayed – is a perfect symbol of the securities in my own life; each thread of the rope represents something or someone in my life; friends and family, predictability of the future, talents and gifts, health, material possessions; each one providing security and each one being compromised when God begins to fray my rope. People disappoint me. The future seems less predictable. Things that once seemed clear are less clear.

At times my rope unravels until just one thread remains and that one thread is God himself. These are the times when I find myself clinging to the rope with all my might; white knuckled and completely surrendered, focusing hopefully on God and His plan; His promises, wishes and desires. When the last thread is all that’s keeping me from disaster, I realize the foolishness of placing my security in people, circumstances or possessions…they were never meant to sustain me.

God wants me to know – without a doubt – that security is found only in him. He gives me relationships and blesses me with possessions, but these are merely a bonus. They were never intended to be a refuge apart from God himself.

Even though I’m hanging on by a thin thread at times, I’m better for it. It almost never makes sense, but it always makes me stronger. It is never easy, but it will always be easier than the suffering Christ endured for me on the cross. It is desperately lonely, but it always brings me closer to Him. It is frightening and painful, but I choose to embrace it.

Tear me down, God, so that you can rebuild me; creating something in me more beautiful than I ever hoped, thought or imagined. Craft me into someone who inspires others. Through the pain, make me a person who enjoys the pleasures of this life to their fullest and maximizes every opportunity; never forgetting that You are my life-sustaining power…only You. Everything else is simply a bonus.

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