Henry David Thoreau said, “An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.” I was greeted by a glorious morning as I took Penelope on her first walk of the day and have been blessed with a beautiful Friday. Mother Nature is blowing the bamboo around this morning, rustling their slender branches, fanning their leaves in the breeze, knocking their trunks together. The sky is dark blue, cloudless and clear, the sun warmly kissing the earth with her yellow rays, filtering down prettily through the bamboo forest. The earth’s wind is playing a symphony of nature on the wind chimes, blowing the last of the brown leaf ballerinas down from the high branches of my old oak, joining in the crowd of leaves in a whirlwind dancing down the street.

Late afternoon the sky was full of small snow white clouds, a luxurious string of luminous pearls hanging around the neck of the sky. I forgot to watch for the sunset but I know Father Sky kissed the sun goodnight as she turned off the day’s lamps and he woke a lovely night, hanging a waxing crescent sliver of milky moon, luminous and ethereal, in the navy inky-black dark of the night sky. He then scattered handfuls of glittering diamonds to twinkle in the navy darkness and arranged the constellations for viewing. Made me think how small I am on Mother Earth’s planet.

Ran across this quote today. I’ve written about it before, it’s credited to Franklin D. Roosevelt. “When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.” Ever had to tie a knot in your rope and hope it holds? Maybe God ties those knots in our life’s rope and while we‘re trying to hold on he’s tying more knots, testing our faith, getting ready to catch us if we can’t hold on. The proverbial rope is our life line and we control the rope. Some of us have ropes with just a few knots tied in them, others of us have ropes with frayed places, others have ropes so full of knots they can’t grasp on. Some of us are holding on to the last thread as the rope unravels, just waiting to fall and hit the ground.

The knots in our ropes are struggles and problems we face that take away the joy and peace in our lives. God can help us with the knots and tangles in our lives. A knotted rope binds things together and symbolizes commitment. If we tie ourselves to God he will empower us with his love and the power of his holy spirit. Jesus is the rope that ties us to God. God’s rope connects people to him. His rope has no end. When we get to the end of our rope, close to losing hope, God will pull us back. We can grasp him for support. God can empower us. He is a source of support and stability. We can rely on him.

“We learn the rope of life by untying its knots.” — Jean Toomer