Remember This

Great illustrations help you to remember the concept being taught long after you have forgotten much of what was said and maybe even who said it.  There are a hand full of illustrations I have heard over the years that have stuck with me, and still cause me to think about their meaning.  These kinds of illustrations eventually change your life.

One of the most powerful illustrations I ever heard gets its strength from the simplicity of the image and the depth of truth it represents. The person who shared it was Matt Hannan, a former pastor at Bethany Church.  He talked about it at a couples retreat over 25 years ago. (I think that is where it was, but then again it is not important because the place he shared it is not why it has stuck with me)

Every spring, every time I water the lawn, each time I wash the car I think about it.  That is how good of an illustration it was.

Let me share it with you.

Matt was talking about the brokenness in our lives and he likened it to a kink in a water hose that prevents the flow of water.  All of us have probably at one time or another been watering the plants or washing our car and have experienced a kink in the hose which cuts off the water.  Chances are, all of us have the same initial response.  We stand there at the end of the hose and begin to try and undue the twist.

At first, we may just give it a slight flick with the wrist.  When this does not dislodge the knot, we put a little more energy behind a good flip of the hose.  This often moves the hose, but rarely unkinks it.  Not to be deterred, we then resort to making wide sweeping circles with the hose, hoping this will untangle the twist.  While we may look like we are practicing our ballet in the backyard, it rarely works.  It is then that we resort to erratically flailing the hose. 

By now, we are frustrated.  It has taken far longer than we wanted to clear the obstruction.  It feels as if it has become personal. That the hose is willfully keeping itself from being unkinked.  We dig in our heals and refuse to be beaten by a 50 foot synthetic rubber hose.  It is then that the hose gets all of our anger and fury and we thrash that hose with all the energy we can muster. We have invested far too much in the process of removing this kink while holding on to the end of the hose to give up now.

Now, every great once in a while, when the planets align, the kink will be removed by this process.  By then, however, our frustration level has grown to the point that all the peacefullness of a quiet afternoon watering the plants has been shattered.

In reality, most of the time this process simply does not work.

If you want to unkink the hose and allow the water to begin flowing again,  if you want to do this with minimal effort and maximum effectiveness, and if you do not want to engage in a process that leaves you frustrated and in worse shape than when you began there is only one way to do it.  You need lay down the end of the hose, walk back to the place where the hose is twisted, and unkink it.  Then the water will flow.

This is true of the brokenness in our lives.  If we want the thirst quenching, life giving waters that have been choked off by the twisted places in our lives, the only way to really bring healing is to lay down the end of the hose, walk back to the place where it got all bent up, and do the humbling and often painful work of unkinking it.

I cannot tell you how often I have watched people, groups, organizations and even churches stand there thrashing about with the end of the hose, hoping to remove a kink that will allow the water to flow once again.  This often brings even more pain, frustration and dysfunction to the person, group, or body.  Unfortunately, it also almost never works.  It only puts more kinks in the hose that cuts off even more water. 

What it takes, even in an organization, is one person who is self-aware enough and brave enough to lay the end of the hose down and walk back to the kink.  This is when healing will begin.  This is when the water begins to flow.

I am able recognize the propensity to fling hoses so easily because I have been prone to flail a few hoses in my time and can still be tempted to stand there swinging that hose through the air.  I have to be reminded from time to time just how ineffective, frustrating, and damaging this whole process can be.  

That is why this illustration has been so helpful to me.  Almost every time, I go water the plants or wash the car and I get a kink I am tempted to begin flicking that hose.  Then I remember this illustration and I lay down the end, walk across the yard, and untwist the hose.

This has done more than simply getting water flowing again.  Like a golfer who practices his swing, or a pianist who practices a difficult piece of music, unkinking my garden hose has somehow built into me a “muscle” memory that has effects how I deal with the kinks of brokenness. When I become aware of one of these in my life that is choking off life I more naturally now lay down the end of the hose and walk back to do the work of untwisting it.

Today my friend Dana and I head out on a road trip to Oklahoma.  We plan to see some sites, do some work, and have some fun.  The truth is, however, what we are really doing is laying down the end of the hose, driving back to some places where we suspect there are a few kinks, and trusting that God will enable us to untwist them.

I will let you know what we find.