Tether My Heart

Last weekend I was talking with some friends about blogs. A friend asked if I had one. I said No. Errr, well, I HAVE one, but I've never posted anything on it, because I always got overwhelmed by not having the perfect thing to say. The very next day, I found myself telling the same friend she should just go ahead & write whatever on her blog, because readers (and potential clients) are looking for personality, not just the right topic or style.

And then I said something like "I have all these great ideas, but I never use them myself."

Psh. So, in order to not be a hypocrite, here I am, writing Something rather than Nothing.

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The phrase "Tether My Heart" comes from a line in the song "Let All I Do Be Praise," by the worship pastor at my church. It says "Tether my heart to Your Presence Deep..." A tether is either something that fastens to a fixed point, or is the "the limit of one's strength or resources" (from Merriam-Webster).

The image that comes to mind when I think of a tether is from Little House on the Prairie. The books, not the TV series, come on people. Every night, as the Ingalls family was traveling across the country, Pa had to tether the livestock. For each animal, he'd put a stake in the ground, attached to its tether. Yes, this was to keep the animals from running away, but it was also for their safety. Who knows what kinds of wild beasts might have been waiting on the other side of the fire light? And I imagine that if Pa looked over at some point & realized there wasn't any delicious grass for the cow to eat, he's probably get & move or lengthen the tether. He was a pretty compassionate guy...

What in the world does this have to do with my heart? Well, the things that tether my heart sometimes seem to hold me back from what I want (or think I want, right?). But they keep me centered around what's important. Sometimes, when I strain against a tether, the stake gets moved, and I discover something fresh & new. Other times, I'm pulled back in, and I realize it's for my safety. And yet other times I break free, only to discover that I want to go back to where I was before.

Now, this metaphor isn't perfect. Sometimes we're called to step out into the darkness on pure faith, and sometimes we're pushed into areas we don't want to go. But you get the picture. I love the lyric, and that's that.

I am tethered by my Lord, My Man, my family (immediate & extended, Lord help me), my friends, the high school students of Vanguard Church, just to name a few. And the experiences that accompany these people often turn into crazy fun.

Back to Fike's song—the chorus says, "I'll live my life as a story, that you'd be seen in my ways. And in the light of your glory, Let all I do be praise..."

So, read on as I share my story of the people, places, and things that tether me and give me wings.

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And because every good blogger knows, a post is nothing without photos, here are a few of My Man & me gettin' hitched...

All photos © Kortnee Kate Photography