Untangled Life

Untangled Life

Christmas has come and gone.

It was time to take down the outside lights while it was not frigid!

I took each one and laid them in a bundle on the garage floor.

It was getting colder as evening grew, so I moved everything inside.

We've always bound the lights end to end

and then wrap the bundle around with the cord and connect plugs.

So neat and tidy!

When wrapping the lights - it gets hard

when you are holding 50 in your hand

and not letting go so that you can wrap them.

Holding on so tightly

making sure you don't let go -

made me think of 'holding on' in life. 

I had quite a pile when I was done wrapping them.

While I was wrapping them up

the thoughts continued to grow

about life and about writing this blog post.

During this time as my hands got tired,

I thought about how the lights can reflect life.

There are bright bulbs, dim bulbs

and even broken ones.

How in life does this relate?

We all have parts of our lives that keep us 'bright',

We all have parts of our lives that make us go 'dim'

We all have parts that especially make us feel 'broken'

Many string lights go out when a bulb is burned out 

or even when it gets broken - the whole string won't work.

Life is like this.....sometimes we feel like quitting

sometimes we feel that our light has gone down

maybe even almost extinguished.

We tend to feel 'tangled'

I had a longer string that took longer to work with
It was a mess!
Twisted, tangled, interwoven and knotted.

How often do these words describe our feelings?

In reference to the Christmas lights outside - 

when everything is plugged in and working - 

it looks very pretty!
Sometimes, even when there is a dim, broken or burned out light
you would never know this if you were looking from a distance.
Life is like this as well.

As I worked to untangle the lights - 

I thought about the things that are 'tangled' in my life right now.

Much of what is going on isn't as easy as finding a knot 

and working it out until it's a straight line again.

Frustration sets in at moments as well.

I don't want to live a tangled life -

I don't want to live a dim life - 
I don't want to live a broken life -

I don't want to live a dark life - 
I want to live an
Untangled Life!

I want my light to shine out to others

I want to be their light when theirs has dimmed.
I love seeing that spark that comes when someone knows you believe in them.
I love seeing the smile when you encourage another.

Living an untangled life takes effort
Living an untangled life takes heart
Living an untangled life takes time

Effort - Heart - Time
All three elements allow you to live
the
Untangled Life!