Broken Boot Laces

Some time ago the laces on my boot broke when I was pulling them tight.  Unfortunately, the nearest boot lace store is thirty minutes away, so I just took the two ends, tied a good knot and laced them up just like they were new laces.  Well, a few days ago the laces broke again, but not at the knot.  It reminded me I had not gotten around to buying a new pair of boot laces.  But, the store has not moved closer so I tied another knot and kept on with what I was doing. 

 

Some mornings we get up full of plans and energy and suddenly life hands us broken boot laces.  We can use it as an excuse not to do anything, or we can tie stuff back together as  best we can and get on with our life.  Jesus ran into a man at a pool in Jerusalem where broken people gathered.  They gathered there hoping to be the first in the pool when the water stirred because of a belief that the first one in the water would be healed.  Jesus asked one of them an usual question.  The man had been broken for thirty-eight years and Jesus asked him, "Do you want to be made well?"  (John 5:6) 

The question seems strange until we realize that not everyone wants to be whole.  The fellow at the pool might not have wanted to exchange a life of other people taking care of him for a life of taking care of himself.  He might have preferred whining to taking hold of his own life.  It was a broken boot lace moment.  Broken boot laces give us an excuse for doing nothing.  The man at the pool decided there was still some living to do and chose to do it with the help of Jesus.  It is true for any of us when the boot laces get broken.  We can choose whining or getting on with living.  If we choose to get on with living, we can count on Jesus to give us a hand.