Are you a kite or anchor?

If given the choice the average Joe would choose being a kite over an anchor. Kites are beautiful, they are free; soaring and twirling in the wind. You can picture a breezy summer day on the beach when you think of kites. Anchors, on the other hand, are the opposite. They are heavy, unmoving, and stuck at the bottom of the sea. When you picture an anchor, you see a a cold, algae covered piece of concrete.

But when I think about them in regards to my faith, I would much rather be an anchor than a kite. There are so many things in this world and in this life that can move us; from year to year (tragedy, finances, raising kids), from day to day (work, your relationship with your spouse, the weather), from second to second (conversations with others, road rage, sitting in another meeting that has gone long). If we are kites flying wherever the wind takes us, we will be blown in a thousand different directions a day. We will be swayed by our circumstances.

But if we are anchors in the moving waters if this life, we will stand firm when tragedy strikes, we won't budge when someone gets mad at us. We will remain steady when our schedule is at the breaking point. We will stay firmly in place when we are sitting in a drive-thru line already late for that next thing on our schedule.

Yes, kites are beautiful and free and anchors are not; but if you examine them you will find that kites have a semblance of freedom but are really just as tied down as an anchor. If you would follow the kite's string all the way to the bottom, you would discover it really isn't free at all. There is a kite flyer who is using the wind to maneuver the kite into doing what they want. Dip here, twirl there. The kite is the slave, the kiter is the master.

If you follow the heavy chain of an anchor all the way UP, you will find another anchor...a pier or a dock. Steady and unmoving.

So which one are you? Which one do you want to be? If you are a kite, how can you become an anchor? The answer is obvious but not always easy.

God is actually THE anchor. If you want to be secure and steady in this constantly changing world, you must attach yourself to Him. But it goes beyond just believing in Him...you must TRUST Him explicitly. How do you have that kind of trust? You get to know Him, you learn about His character, you talk to Him, you search for Him, and you cry out to Him. Only then, will you be anchored down. And the more the waters stir and you realize God is faithful, the more steady you get. It's a mysteriously amazing cycle.

Then one day when the storm comes, you see the storm, and feel the storm BUT you will be anchored  to the only One who can truly help you weather the storm. THEN you will see the beauty in concrete.