I had an experience once that really surprised me.
It may sound stupid but… I went to fly a kite. Just like the adults in Mary Poppins. I remembered that I had a kite in my closet, given to us the previous Christmas that had been cast aside to gather dust. It was windy outside, so I had a notion to give this kite a try. Who says toys are just for kids? I grabbed the kite, and my kids and I set out for the park.
The wind was perfect. The kite was itching. Once I got the poles put in, it instantly came to life and got up immediately. It was so easy. I had no idea a kite could work so well. I unwound the string…. more and more. And more. It was if the kite was saying, “See? Keep unwinding me, and I’ll show you how high I can actually go. This is what I was made for. You won’t believe it.” So I kept going. It was exhilarating. Farther and Farther. Higher and higher. I don’t know the exact measurement (I wish now that I had drawn a line and measured it) but it felt to me like 200 feet on that string, until the kite was looming among the birds, looking down at us all. I could tell the onlookers at the park were impressed, but not as impressed as I was. Like the adults in Mary Poppins, I felt like a child, gleefully surprised; I didn’t really know this was possible. I began living vicariously through the kite, thinking about all that it could see from up there. What would it feel like to be soaring like that?
“How is this even working?” I asked myself. “What is a kite, anyway? It’s just a little piece of nylon stretched over two sticks. How can it be so high in the air like that?” I became aware that my kite and I were attached, that it had something holding it to the ground. Why, the string, of course. As I thought about the length and strength of that thin stretch of cord, the Spirit taught me, “There is a beautiful tension that exists in this string. It tethers the kite to the ground. Without that tethering, the kite doesn’t feel the resistance to push against the wind. The string is what makes it possible.” I pictured what would happen if someone were to cut the string in my hands, and my beloved kite were at the whims of the wind currents until it eventually crashed on someone’s land, far away.
The string. The string was the answer. Something so small, so practical, so simple, and yet so powerful made it possible for my kite to soar hundreds of feet above me. There was something familiar about that. Did I not also have something tethering me to the place I came from? I realized that the string was performing the same function as the commandments that I’ve striven to follow my whole life, which I probably take for granted. The commandments keep me safely attached to the ground with a beautiful tension that allows me to resist the winds and pressures of the world, that allows me to experience true joy.
However, just as a kite and string need proper conditions to have success, so does our obedience. We need to keep the commandments for the right reasons, namely, because we love God and because we choose to. We exercise our free will, demonstrating devotion and submissiveness, gratitude and love, and in return we reap all the blessings promised to the faithful. Otherwise, we are no better than that kite that wishes to be cut loose. Does it make sense for a kite to say, “How dare you? How dare you tie me to the ground like this? I’m a free agent, you know. I can do whatever I want.”
There is a scene in a movie I love. the movie is called “The Edge of Tomorrow,” starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. In it, Tom Cruise’s character is about to be ejected off of a helicopter into a war zone about which he knows nothing. He doesn’t know what’s going on, nor how to use the tools he’s been given. As Christians, we believe we were somewhere else before we came to this mortal life. I would imagine the anticipation could have felt a bit like that scene, being sent to a place where, because of moral agency, literally anything could happen to you. And I’d imagine that perhaps I’d have been told, “Don’t worry. Yes it’s going to be hard and scary at times, but you’ll have a lifeline. Do the things that you’ll be taught and stay true to your covenants. Not only will things work out for yo, but you’ll even feel joy from time to time,” And I’d imagine that when I was told that, I’d feel immense gratitude. And I’d say, “Thank you! Thank you for providing the lifeline for me. Yes, I’ll follow it. I’ll do whatever you ask.”
I have watched so many friends leave their faith for many reasons related to our consumerist, online culture. They say they are better off, and perhaps they are for exercising their agency. But it does leave me wondering, is it such a burden to keep the commandments? I’ve never viewed it that way. The commandments are my faith practice. What has my religious practice and my faith in Jesus Christ ever granted me? Certainly and most importantly, access to His Atonement through a covenant relationship but also self-mastery, self-reflection, and wholesome priorities that bind me in charity to my fellow man. Also, let’s not forget hope, and comfort. And cheer in an otherwise aimless, squalid world. And all the other heavenly blessings I could need. Is that string a burden to me? By no means. It’s what has allowed me to soar.