Interesting Entanglement

(Entangle – to complicate; to involve in difficulties).

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12:2).

Our steps along the shore line led us to a rather interesting entanglement. Tumbled, twisted and snarled along the sandy embankment entwined a collection of jagged branches and barkless tree trunks. Rather weary worn from the tossed waves, I stood there assessing the tangled mess. Like a spin cycle gone psychotic, how did these singular entities culminate into such a collective morass that it would take nothing short of an act of God to detangle? As the waves sloshed against the shore line. I listened to its interesting theory.

We walk intertwined, woven in and out of people’s lives daily. Some we encounter anonymously. A parting of pleasantries only lightly touching the surface of one another’s hearts. A fine, “Hello, how are you,” neither mingles our emotions nor commits our sensibilities. But once we relate, once we link up, we become known, exposed, susceptible. “Fine” requires more details. Anonymous demands more distinction. As Christ followers, life no longer reflects a single face in the mirror or a singular branch washing up upon the shore. For us, life encompasses choice. And choosing to entangle our lives with another and another and another.

By life’s grand design, we’re all entangled. With or without Christ, we labor together. We shop, vacation, recreate, travel, exercise, commune with nature, celebrate holidays, attend activities all together, regardless of our religious affiliation or beliefs. Do we choose to conform to the world’s patterns as Paul pronounces to the Romans (12:2) or do we enmesh ourselves in all of life’s messy, prickly, snarled-up, tangled up state to live as a reflection of our Savior, making a difference...being a difference?

Food for thought.