[00:00.76]Restraints to Soar
[00:04.25]One windy spring day,
[00:06.98] I observed young people having fun using the wind to fly their kites.
[00:11.47] Multicolored creations of varying shapes
[00:14.20]and sizes filled the skies like beautiful birds darting and dancing.
[00:18.80] As the strong winds gusted against the kites,
[00:22.07]a string kept them in check.
[00:24.26]Instead of blowing away with the wind,
[00:26.45]they arose against it to achieve great heights.
[00:29.18]They shook and pulled,
[00:31.04]but the restraining string and the cumbersome tail kept them in tow,
[00:35.09] facing upward and against the wind.
[00:37.82]As the kites struggled and trembled against the string,
[00:40.99]they seemed to say:"Let me go! Let me go!
[00:44.61]I want to be free!" They soared beautifully
[00:47.88]even as they fought the restriction of the string.
[00:51.17]Finally, one of the kites succeeded in breaking loose.
[00:54.77] "Free at last." it seemed to say. "Free to fly with the wind."
[01:00.42]Yet freedom from restraint
[01:02.61] simply put it at the mercy of an unsympathetic breeze.
[01:06.22]It fluttered ungracefully to the ground
[01:08.73]and landed in a tangled mass of weeds and string against a dead bush.
[01:12.89] "Free at last" free to lie powerless in the dirt,
[01:17.15]to be blown helplessly along the ground,
[01:19.78]and to lodge lifeless against the first obstruction.
[01:22.84]How much like kites we sometimes are.
[01:26.77]The Heaven gives us adversity and restrictions,
[01:29.95]rules to follow from which we can grow and gain strength.
[01:34.22] Restraint is a necessary counterpart to the winds of opposition.
[01:38.70]Some of us tug at the rules so hard that
[01:41.98]we never soar to reach the heights we might have obtained.
[01:44.83]Let us each rise to the great heights, recognizing that
[01:48.99]some of the restraints that
[01:50.63] we may chafe under are actually the steadying force
[01:54.24]that helps us ascend and achieve. |