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Free to Soar

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One windy spring day,

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I observed young people having fun using the wind to fly their kites.

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Multicolored creations of varying shapes and sizes filled the skies

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like beautiful birds darting and dancing.

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As the strong winds gusted against the kites,

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a string kept them in check.

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Instead of blowing away with the wind,

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they arose against it to achieve great heights.

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They shook and pulled, but the restraining string

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and the cumbersome tail kept them in tow,

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facing upward and against the wind.

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As the kites struggled and trembled against the string,

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they seemed to say, “Let me go! Let me go! I want to be free!”

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They soared beautifully even as they fought the restriction of the string.

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Finally, one of the kites succeeded in breaking loose.

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“Free at last,” it seemed to say.

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“Free to fly with the wind.”

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Yet freedom from restraint simply put it at the mercy of an unsympathetic breeze.

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It fluttered ungracefully to the ground

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and landed in a tangled mass of weeds and string against a dead bush.

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“Free at last”, free to lie powerless in the dirt,

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to be blown helplessly along the ground,

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and to lodge lifeless against the first obstruction.

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How much like kites we sometimes are.

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Heaven gives us adversity and restrictions,

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rules to follow from which we can grow and gain strength.

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Restraint is a necessary counterpart to the winds of opposition.

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Some of us tug at the rules so hard

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that we never soar to reach the heights we might have obtained.

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We keep part of the commandment

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and never rise high enough to get our tails off the ground.

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Let us each rise to the great heights,

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recognizing that some of the restraints that we may chafe under

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are actually the steadying force that helps us ascend and achieve.