Tangled Up

As you know from the previous post, I was enjoying the use of my new rod and reel until a mysterious occurrence happened.

The other afternoon I was headed out for some errands - Post Office and Dick's Sporting Goods. I was able to take my youngest son with me since we were going to Dick's for his baseball pants. Having the fishing rod in the truck, I was expecting a great conversation and bonding time about fishing and the outdoors. We were off and things were going great. I stopped by the bank then headed to the Post for what would become a 25 minute wait for a certified letter I didn't know I was receiving and they didn't know where it was located. While inside, Brendan was out in the truck. Finally, I received the letter and headed out to the truck myself. And what to my wandering eyes should appear...but fishing line coming out of the reel from top to bottom. The true test of any father not to lose his cool spirit. Calmly I asked my son what happened. His response was simple, "I don't know." While chuckling I asked again and again he said, "I don't know." The mystery has begun now on how the fishing line went crazy while I was in the Post and he was in the truck.

We then headed to Dick's and I didn't press the topic any further. After arriving home I started to work on the reel and pull some of the line. An hour later I was still pulling the line and finally I called him in the room and simply asked him to be honest about what he did to the reel in order to help me understand better how to fix it. His answer this time was "I can't remember." The mystery still surrounded us on how the line escaped the reel. After much thought and line pulling, I just took it all off and decided to just run new line and start over the next day.

I couldn't help but think how true this story is for all of us. Sometimes we find ourselves in a tangled mess. Whether we can recognize how we arrived in that tangle or not, what is true is that those tangles happen before we realize it. And some of those tangles occur from innocent interests or from deliberate interests. For Brendan, I am sure it was curiosity that got him tangled and he was embarassed to express that to me. Fortunatley this time God led me to remain calm and responsive to him. That leads us to another truth, often we may be embarrased to express our tangles to God for his forgivesness and love. But, the truth is that He already knows and is ready to respond to our messes.

In this life we will find ourselves in some messes and tangled up issues. I am thankful that in those times we can have the confidence to give them to God who cares for us and loves us in a way that welcomes our burdens and issues. So whatever mess you have found yourself tangled in, give it over to Him and let Him make you anew again.