I saw her taking short little steps--one of our hens out under a little tree by the lumber mill.
And I realized a string was wound around her foot--
in fact--both feet. That string was keeping her from taking normal steps.
The string was wound around and around her foot,
like strings of fear and distress wound around a heart,
making it hobble.
I started trying to unwind all the strings--there must have been two different kinds around her foot,
string from a feed sack and fibers from hay strings--
like the twine of hopelessness and the ropes of defeat that tangle a heart in a sort of hobbling mess.
I couldn't untangle those strings by myself.
Not while holding the hen and trying to manage scissors at the same time.
So I asked for help
as we have to do sometimes, when our heart is tangled,
and we can't get untangled ourselves.
She was calm at first, letting me hold her, like she knew I was trying to help.
And then she started to struggle and squawk, like we do sometimes,
in the hands of the Lord.
He is trying to untangle our messes, but we don't always understand.
It is often uncomfortable when God sets to work on the knots of our lives.
We don't know exactly what He is up to, and we'd like to flap and flutter and squawk and resist.
But He knows what He is doing.
He sees us in our distresses; recognizes when our hobbled heart is just hopping hopelessly about,
with strings of struggle and threads of overthinking
encircling our feet and heart in endless circles of confusion.
He catches us right in the middle of the chaos and holds us tight to Himself.
"How'd you ever get these strings wound around this many times?"
He must say to Himself as He starts untangling,
thread by thread,
string by string,
twine by muddy twine.
"You're free to hop now," He must say, as we do, when we let the chicken go out in the back yard.
Does He watch in satisfaction as our heart feels the freedom of
having been in the Father's hands,
all the strings unwound
and the hobbles unbound?
"You have brought my feet out of the net," the Psalmist cried.
And how free it feels!
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