Flying Kites

Dear Christa—

With this crazy windy weather we’re having, I’m beginning to feel like I live in Kansas and my middle name is Dorothy. It has blown everything on this side of town nearly flat.

When I was walking this morning, there was a kite hung up in a tree, kite string strewn all over the ground. I couldn’t help thinking that this is the time to fly a kite. But, most people are too busy to fly kites. As I came back around on my way home, I wondered if all the other kite flyers had been successful, or if there really hadn’t been many kites in the sky at the park.

We can only fly kites when it’s windy. Next week or the week after, the hot summer will creep in, the sheets will hang limp and wrinkled on the line, the breeze will be gone. And, the time to fly kites will be over. It’s kind of like life.

Last summer after the hailstorm, Jay and I found pots of flowers for a good price, and since the kids were coming soon, we bought those root bound pots and plopped them in our bigger containers. We decided that in Colorado, there just wasn’t time to wait around for little seedlings to grow. Sometimes, there isn’t time to wait, but wait we do. 

Isn’t it funny how we often rush in where we should wait and linger when we shouldn’t? We put off taking that trip, working on that relationship, starting that Bible study.

For the most part I try to follow a basic Mediterranean diet, but last winter I walked too little and ate too much cheesecake. To jumpstart the diet, you cut out sugar and fruit for 10 days. I’ve only done that twice before. The hardest day for me isn’t the third day when your body is adjusting from the sugar addiction; it’s the first day. How many times have I said, “I will start this tomorrow…next week…after that holiday?” And before I know it, a lot of time has gone by.

I’ve been thinking lately that it’s time for me to reassess the choices I make. It’s time to quit putting some things off. I finally did tackle that first sugarless day; I’ve walked every morning this week. But, there are far more important matters than losing a few pounds.

If we put off doing those things, we might find that the time for doing has passed when we get around to it. If we’re going to fly a kite, we better do it now. Maybe the kite will end up in a tree, but that’s better than not flying one at all. 

Sometimes the rush is just getting it up in the air.