Recently my wife and I were cleaning the upstairs portion of our home. I sat in a chair organizing books and clearing off our desk while she worked in the walk-in closet. After a while, I took a break and went over to see if she needed any help. She was going through a box of various items when she pulled out a ball of yarn approximately the size of a grapefruit.
"What is this for?" I asked.
"Well, this was a project I did with the kids at church a few years ago to help them remember a verse from the Bible."
"Are you planning on keeping it?"
She thought about it a second. "Nah."
"Well, can I see if it works?"
"If you want."
I found an open spot on the floor, sat down, and began to untangle the ball of yarn. Quickly, I realized that it wasn't going to be as easy as I thought. Interspersed between the taped strips of paper with words on them were pieces of hard candy. After a few years of sitting in a box, the candy had not only become unsuitable for eating, but were stuck to other sections of yarn. This made the task of unraveling the ball even more difficult.
Ten minutes later, I was pretty frustrated and still had a good portion of the ball left. The color of yarn had changed, but the candies were still just as stubborn to remove. What's worse, I had no idea what the verse was supposed to be! At that point, I made the decision to abandon reading the verse and just unwind the yarn completely, using any methods necessary to get there. Thirty minutes after I started working with the ball of yarn, I reached the end and found a peppermint there—a 'reward' for my efforts, it seemed.
Nobody is immune to the onslaughts and struggles common to life, as much as we would like it to be otherwise. Sometimes there's not enough money to pay all the bills at the end of the month. Sometimes a member of the family gets sick with a cold and had to miss a few days of work or school. Sometimes the phone rings and there's unwelcome news on the other end of the line. The critical question involves what we do when these inevitable situations arise.
There are three central modes people use when they reach these sticky situations in life. One is to simply act as if nothing has happened. I don't particularly advocate this option, since it forms the beginnings of a personal ball of yarn. One situation leads to another, and the ball becomes larger and larger. What's more, the situations over time (like the candy) begin to stick together, both defining who we are and making the ball of yarn nearly impossible to untangle.
A second method is to deal with the issues (whether individually or in small groups) our way. For example, if we're contemplating a move to another town, making the decision based on human feelings alone or because we think that's what needs to be done. We might be correct in our assumptions, but there's a great likelihood that we'll make a mistake or two along the way. This also forms the beginnings of a ball of yarn in our lives. And just like ignoring the issues, if left for too long a time, the ball gets larger and more difficult to bring under control.
This leaves a third, more desirable, way.
We simply have to get God involved.
Since we are creatures that are fallible (prone to make mistakes), it should serve as no surprise that ignoring issues or trying to handle them our way will not work in the long run. David found that out when attempting to cover up his actions regarding a woman named Bathsheba (see 2 Samuel, chapters 11-12). Jonah ran away from his task and infamously was swallowed by a great fish (or whale; take your pick). The crew members of a ship bound for Phoenix were warned by Paul not to go, but did anyway and barely escaped with their lives (see Acts 27:9-44).
It's the reason why Jesus came on the scene—to bridge the gap between us and God due to our mistakes. In doing this, we have the ability to allow God to take an active role in making us more like he is—loving, joyful, caring, patient, kind, gentle, faithful, and self-controlled. In this, God begins to help us unravel the ball of yarn we have in our lives.
This is not to say that the process is an easy one. It might hurt a little. It might hurt a lot. But after a while, the ball of yarn is unraveled and life becomes different. We're changed for the better as a result, yet we must be willing to let God stay in the picture—not as a spectator, but an active participant in our lives. Otherwise, we risk falling into either the trap of ignorance or the trap of handling the unraveling process on our own.
So, what is the ball of yarn that's sitting in your life made up of? Are there situations that you're trying to handle under your own power? Are you ignoring the struggles of life, hoping they will go away yet knowing they won't? Do you really want to be free (see Galatians 5:13a)?
My prayer is that you would be real with God and allow him to begin the unraveling process in your life. And as the ball of yarn becomes smaller and smaller, may God refresh you, that you may in turn refresh others.
"The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor."
--Isaiah 61:1-2a (NIV); also quoted and declared by Jesus in Luke 4:16-20
"If it is God who has begun painting a picture of what could and should be on the canvas of your heart, over time you will begin to sense that not to follow through would be tantamount to an act of disobedience."
--Andy Stanley, Visioneering1
1 Stanley, Andy. Visioneering. Multnomah, Sisters OR: 25.
