The Delight of a KITE

Nothing says “springtime” like a kite-shaped frosted brownie with the first cup of coffee in the morning! At the end of a long winter, the sight of a kite, even in brownie form, invokes thoughts of warm and breezy days on newly greened grass, celebrating the end of winter captivity with a little fun in the sun!

Kite-flying in suburbia seems to be a lost art these days. Rarely do I spot one in the sky as I used to do when I was young, following the string down with my eyes till I found the owner on the ground, enjoying the fun. It could be the congested way in which we live that’s caused the change, with few open spaces in which to run, free from treetops and telephone wires that want to grab and tangle the string or tail. Perhaps that’s why people have taken to sandy beaches on ocean shorelines as the optimal place to launch their air-borne treasures, where rarely is there a shortage of wind to take them up nor onlookers to applaud their efforts.

The beach in Lincoln City along the Oregon Coast is one of our favorite family vacation destinations, and there is simply nothing like looking up and down the sandy shore and seeing the myriad of multi-colored kites sin all shapes and sizes staked in the ground on a windy day or held in the hands of a family at play. The sight is as necessary to my beach experience now as the waves, seagulls, and sand.

While not generally a big fan of wind. I appreciate that it cleans the air of lingering pollutants and am always grateful for a gentle breeze on a hot day. But a roaring gale that blows away hairstyles, flaps anything not tied down and snaps tree limbs is something I could simply do without. And yet it‘s the wind I grow weary of that carries the kites I so enjoy to new heights in the sky. In it’s absence they simply tumble to the ground, often broken or damaged by the force with which they hit.

Similarly it‘s the adversities I face in life, the troubles or problems that threaten to rip loose my grip on it or cause it to spin crazily out of control that work positive change in me. How I deal with difficulties determines if I’ll fall and have to face them all over again or stand in silent satisfaction as I learn to use them to hold my dreams aloft.

 “…but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint…”
(Romans 5:4-5 NIV)