While flying a kite, I once asked my father, “Dad, what holds the kite up?”
“The string,” he replied.
“No, Dad, the string holds it down, not up.”
“If you think so, let go of the string,” he said, “and see what happens.”
I let go—and the kite began to fall! It seems odd that the very thing that seems to keep the kite down is actually what keeps it up. And this is true not only of kites but of life. Those strings that are tied to us, those rules and regulations that seem to hold us down, are actually holding us up.
And certainly in the realm of the spirit, in the field of faith, this same truth holds with even greater force. The word “religion” is said to come from a Latin root meaning “to hold back” or tie back. And this is what religion does. It provides the string to the soaring kite of our spirit; it keeps us from falling! It binds us to great values: it attaches us to great causes; it helps us fly high in the aid of God’s truth and lifts us until our heads touch the stars and our lives take on the beauty of men and women who are bound closely to God….
Men and women who turn their lives over to God will find out that He can make a alot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace. Whoever will lose his life to God will find he has Eternal Life. ~ Ezra Taft Benson, May 1975
