A Tethering that Binds and Frees 

The pole stood tall and erect; at attention maybe even, ready for service.  Three infusion pumps were clamped on, bags hung and lines that ran from the bags into me!  We had been joined and would spend a 24-7 time together.  It soon was clear that I was tethered to this pole.  I didn’t go anywhere without it.  When it moved, I could move because when the plugs came out and I hung them carefully on the handles of the clamps, batteries continued to pump the fluids.  We could be mobile together at times but make no mistake, I was tethered to my IV pole.   That tethering became more and more unpleasant as the lines seemed to wear out my veins and spirit.  

It was, I suppose, both the unpleasantness and length of time that added to my intense satisfaction when lines were removed and I was able to push the pole as I had done so many times day and night as we padded along the floor, to the side of the room and then . . .  walk away from it.  It again just stood there, tall, erect; at attention maybe even.  But the tethering that bound us together had ended.  I was free!  I didn’t miss the sound of the wheels.   I didn’t miss the unplugging and plugging in.  I certainly didn’t miss the lines that bound us . . . I relished my freedom!

There is more to the metaphor for me.  That IV pole tethering produced seemingly inescapable bonds and made me long for freedom.  There is a tethering that brings freedom that I at times would seek to foolishly “unhook.”  Because of grace, I am tethered to an Immoveable Object . . . not a pole but a Person.  I move.  I move at times thinking, hoping that I might pull or push Him where I want to go, when I want to go.  It seems the “lines of steadfast love” are long enough so I do a lot of “moving” but the lines go from me to the One Who cannot be moved.  I have a Rock, a Fortress, a Defense.  This tethering, though I foolishly might at times confuse with bondage is in fact the only way to be free.  I am free to own my wanderlust; to realize that I wish at times I might be free of my “tether lines” but oh the joy and freedom of knowing the One at the end of my lines!  What a liberating bondage!  And one day I won’t need any lines but will just rest and see eternally His unseen lines that connected me, tethered me, to Himself.  I will enter the glorious freedom of a forever bondage . . . now that is a tethering to get excited about!