The Rope Analogy

It was great listening to Clare Frank teach us about Anger and Listening Prayer last weekend. It was mostly very interesting and eye-opening. And she was a very natural and good speaker. There was one analogy she shared which we found to be very helpful and insightful.

The Rope Analogy

When someone hurts you, they are actually throwing an invisible rope to you. You have the choice of whether you want to pick up the rope they tossed you or not. If you pick it up, you are in fact, choosing to take up a cause with them.

A bone to pick.

A lesson to teach, so to speak.

But you are supposed to toss the rope to God and let Him deal with that person instead. And decide to let them go off the hook. That will break that unhealthy binds between the offender and the offendee.

I reflected on my relationship with my dad. About our latest near spat. For some reason, I wasn't tempted to pick up that rope he tossed me. Saw it for what it was - a small miscommunication. And thus was not riled by his reactions thereafter. Likewise, he was took more care with his words than usual and we did not pass each other many 'ropes'.

But it's not always easy to do that. To toss the rope some offender flings to us and to let them off the hook so easily. There's always the tempting thought of giving them a piece of your mind or teach them a lesson or two. Those who are extroverted couldn't stand not being to launch into verbal warfare. While the introverts appear more calm even though a volcano is brewing deep deep down inside their guts. But it will still have to manifest its ugly face somehow, someway.

The best thing to do is to toss the rope. The strange thing is, the older some people get, the harder it is for them to do so. Maybe it's because they are so set in their ways or fear losing their face.

Let go.

And let God.