Sometimes there is a lesson for us in the simplest, most commonplace things. I was all dressed and ready to go to church last Sunday morning when I noticed a thread hanging from the bottom of my dress. In a hurry, I naturally did what most of us would do: I pulled the thread, trying to remove it. I bet you can guess what happened. The thread didn't break of when I pulled at it; instead, it just came unraveled and the seam fell apart. Then I stood there for a few seconds, thinking, "I knew I shouldn't have done that. Why did I pull on that thread? I should have cut it off, not pulled on it. I knew better than that!"

Then it hit me, like a ton of bricks: that's life, in a nutshell. We have all kinds of loose threads dangling all around us every day. Many times, we should have cut those threads off a long time ago. We knew they would eventually cause a problem, but somehow, even knowing that, we never got around to cutting them off, for one reason or another. And when we just try to pull at them, insteading of cutting them, they begin to unravel and we come apart at the seams. Those threads may be old habits, guilt and shame from the past that still torments us, people who are bad influences in our lives, worries that we just can't seem to let go of - whatever. There are lots and lots of old threads that we should have cut off long ago.

Then sometimes, it's a new thread, just starting to show. Maybe we added something that is stretching our seams a little too tight, and the threads are starting to work their way loose. Or the thread came loose from all the agitation in the washer or spinning around in the dryer. These threads may be extra responsibilities that we've taken on when we're already stretched thin, or extra activities that we try to cram into our already busy lives. Whether we are agitating madly or spinning around in circles, those dangling threads are going to end up unraveling us if we don't take care of them properly. Our threads will unravel and we'll come apart at the seams if we just pull at them instead of cutting them off.