The Rope
The story is told of a mountain climber who desperately wanted to conquer the Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Argentine Andes. He initiated his climb after years of preparation. Because he wanted the glory all to himself, he went up alone.
As the day passed and it began to get dark, he did not stop to camp for the night but kept going. Night fell. There was no moon. Clouds covered the stars. Visibility was zero. Everything was black.
As the climber neared a ridge at about a hundred meters from the top, he slipped and fell into the total darkness below. In those anguishing moments when he was in free fall, memories flashed through his mind, both good and bad. He was certain he would die.
But then a jolt almost tore him in half. Like any sensible mountain climber, he had used pitons and a long rope tied around his waist to stake himself to the mountain. The top piton held, and the rope broke his fall.
He groped in the darkness for the side of the mountain, but it was out of reach. In the terrifying moments that followed, as he hung suspended, he cried out in desperation, "Help me, God! Help me! " Then he heard a voice from Heaven. "Cut the rope!"
"What?"
"Cut the rope!"
More stillness followed, as the man held all the tighter and swung slowly back and forth, hoping in vain to make contact with the side of the mountain.
Other climbers found him the next day, still hanging from the mountain, frozen to death ... two feet above a wide ledge. Unseen by him, the ledge would have been a safe spot where he could have dropped, recovered, built a small fire for warmth, and camped for the night.
It's a tragic story and hopefully not true, but it illustrates a point. Do you put your confidence in some "rope" ? Or can you trust God with those things that are beyond your control ? Why don't you let go ? God has great and marvelous things in store for you. Cut the rope and simply trust Him.
Let this be a lesson that God knows things that we do not. I've been struggling with dealing with some things lately, and I'm grateful that I can think back to this story and be comforted. He knows why things happen, what things will happen, and how they will happen. All we need to do is listen for his voice :)
So it's getting to the point in the summer where the nights are cool and the days are hot. I grew up without AC and the windows were open all the time in the summer. I guess this comforts me still when I'm inside and can hear the birds or cars. Up until last night, I've kept the windows open and our porch door open. Obviously, we have screens :) BUT we've been finding...
spiders! And for those of you who are familiar with how my husband feels about spiders, you'd know that well, we have a "problem" with spiders now. We never have any screen doors or windows actually open to the inside, so the only reason we can find for the spiders being in our home is that there must be nests in the spaces between the windows/doors and the screens. Now, we are leaving the AC on and the doors/windows closed. It makes me sad because I can't hear the birds or cars or my beautiful wind chime outside :( but at least HOPEFULLY there won't be any more spiders!
Needless to say, I am very excited to come home in August. It's always a breath of fresh air to get out of Utah and come home. Ryan is sometimes bugged when I call Connecticut "home", because obviously we have a condo here and live here. BUTTTT Connecticut will always be my home and I will do whatever I can (which isn't much) to end up back East and raise my family there. And Ryan knows that and says he wants that too, which makes me happy. He knew what he was getting when he married me!
