The Escape

Pin It It was last weekend.

I was getting ready for Christmas in September when I found the two balloons I’d purchased for my sister’s birthday still hovering about the house. It amazed me, it was nearly two weeks after I’d purchased them; they both had life in them…life enough to still be airborne.


Well, knowing that birthday balloons were not really the style for the event we had coming up, I decided to pop them. The brightly-colored one was the first to go—after all, it was still in the kitchen and tethered to a gift bag; however, before I could get to the second balloon—the green star—my sister arrived and the balloon, somehow having gotten close to the door, made a lunge for freedom.

Needless to say, it had plenty of strength to make a quick getaway, and before I knew it, it had soared up into the heavens and soon disappeared from sight.

As I stood on the ground below, watching this balloon slowly rise higher and higher, I thought how this balloon was like—and unlike—me. I thought of those things each day I encounter which are bent on destroying my spirit.

When I say ‘spirit’ I am talking about either a destruction of self-esteem, or even an eternal soul.

The ways this destruction can come about are vast and unnumbered, and there have been many times when I find myself deflated and punctured—lying in a crumbled heap upon the floor—like balloon number one. These are usually from the times when I am clinging to people, places, or things which are unhealthy. Those things which are bent on deflating, tethering, and keeping me on the ground.

But as I watched this balloon I thought of how, if I’m really trying, I can ‘escape’ all of these things and rise above them—to a safe place where they cannot harm.

However, I have to be ready to leave them behind and rise above when the door is opened and the opportunity presents itself.

From there, I’ll let the winds carry me.

It's out of fear

Pin It It seems that nearly always it is the scary thing makes it hard for us to change…you know, that great, big, unknown thing. Why is this? It’s probably because the thing which is the most comfortable is to always stay where and what we are. The scary “unknown” thing could be much better than what we have now, yet, we often cling to that which is known, strictly out of fear.

I believe that this is it that we allow ourselves to remain in a state of “hereness,” too frightened to leave a familiarity for something which could be far greater. The point is, we’ll never know if it will indeed be better lest we try. So, while the safe thing would be to stay the same (maybe not the most comfortable though) but the safest, that which is unknown could offer us countless opportunities.

Such have been my feelings as of late. I don't know how better to say this other than the way Bilbo Baggins did...he had such a way with words:

“It’s a dangerous business, going out your front door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”