By Gennady Podgaisky
In many team-building outdoor activities, camps and couples’ retreats, there is an interesting activity called the sharp-angle ropes walk. Two ropes are tied between three trees at a sharp angle about 2-3 feet from the ground. On one side, both ropes are tied to the same tree, and the other two ends are tied to two separate trees, with about 10 feet distance from each other. The task is for the couple, or two people, to walk on top of the ropes holding hands. They start on the narrow end and move towards the widening end of that V-shaped angle. The couple who walks on top of the ropes the farthest distance from the narrow end wins the game.
It is impossible to walk on that tight rope by yourself more than several steps; you have to hold onto the other person’s hands and lean toward the other person to walk away from the narrow end.
The more steps you walk from the narrow end, the more difficult it becomes to walk and maintain balance, and the more you have to lean towards each other. Leaning on each other requires complete trust in the other person that he/she will hold you. If both trust each other, then they can make it almost to the end of the wider section of the ropes. Otherwise, if one or both try to keep balance on their own on top of the rope, they pull each other down from the rope. The activity will work only if both are leaning on each other and not pulling the other person, which is counterintuitive and requires complete trust in the other person.
In the last several months, we hosted in our home many Ukrainians coming from Ukraine or on their way back to Ukraine. Most of them we knew from our time in Kyiv, but there were others whom we did not know. As usual, during their stay with us, we try to help them process what is happening in Ukraine, to process their losses, sorrows, hurts, fears, anger, uncertainty and so on. We help them by holding a safe place for them, mostly by listening and accepting them as they are, and sometimes by answering their theological and life questions, as well as addressing their needs and frustrations.
For us to really help them, and for them to have transformative lasting changes, they have to trust us, open up and tell us what is going on and what they really think and feel. For some, it may take several hours of fellowship and conversation to open, while for others it takes several days. They must stop balancing on their own and start leaning on us without reservations.
The same way it applies to our relationship with God, the more we trust Him, the more we lean on Him, the better He can help and transform us. Colossians 1:27b says, “…Christ in us, the hope of glory.” Christ wants us to lean on Him; He wants to encourage and strengthen us in our daily lives and struggles. He is in us, and He wants to walk along us. He wants that we stop “balancing on our own”; He wants to be the source of our trust and the source of strength in us when we walk on those “tight ropes.” He wants to help us when we get stuck with life’s problems, circumstances, and when our losses attempt to stretch and break us. With Christ, we can walk to the end of our ropes and be safe in His hands.