Knots

This morning I was getting Becca, our 7 year old, ready for school. We were running late as it was but then she had a knot in her shoelace. I worked at it with the skill of a surgeon wearing catcher’s mitt. I think one of the greatest abilities that God has granted to mothers is loosening knots, especially in shoe laces. I don’t know how many times one of our kids has had a knot in their laces which I could not unravel. Often the knot would be pulled tight, in many misguided attempts to free it by simply yanking on it harder. It always seems that my fingers are too big, my nails are too short, my finger tips are too calloused by years of playing the guitar, and my patience is too short to do the job. I just want to yank harder. Yet, Lori always seems to be able to loosen the knot and restore the lace to its proper form. “What is the trick?” I wonder to myself. More slender fingers? Longer Nails? Maybe just a more sensitive touch? Perhaps, a little more patience? Or, how about a keener understanding of what makes knots so . . . knotty . . . in the first place?

In his book, Next Door Savior, Max Lucado tells the story of a man who used to sit on a park bench for a few minutes each morning. He liked to watch the kids gather and play at the bus stop. One day he noticed a little boy of five or six who missed the school bus. He was trying to loosen a knotted shoelace. The doors of the bus closed and he was left alone—just he and his hopelessly knotted lace. The boy was quietly sobbing when he saw the man on the park bench. The boy approached the man. With tear-filled eyes he looked at the man and asked, “Do you untie knots?”

No one has such insight into the knots we make of our lives as does Jesus. Sometimes we look at them and we think we can fix them by just pulling harder. That’s what our instinct tells us—just keep pulling and maybe, somehow, we can coax that knot out. Yet, Jesus would work His way into the very fibers of our lives and untangle even the most stubborn of messes—if we let Him.

That’s not to say it will be easy, or quick, or painless. Maybe Jesus will need to take a pair of scissors and do some cutting in our lives—some painful spiritual surgery. Is your knot caused by an unhealthy relationship, divisive attitude, unbiblical actions, materialism, greed, or a host of other sinful choices? Jesus can untie even the worst knots and messes.