Bill, this leaf is hanging on by a thread. For some reason it wasn’t going to hit the ground today. Someday it will. It has no choice. But you do. That thread that you’re hanging by, where did it come from? What’s it made of?” I ask.

“Faith. Will. God,” he says quietly. “So let’s acknowledge that you have fallen

a bit lower than you were before. What are you going to do about it?” “Make a choice not to fall,” he says. “Can you come over here for a while?”

I ask. About fifteen minutes later he arrives. I am waiting in my driveway with two rakes. We spend the next hour gathering all the leaves in bags. We hardly speak at all.

“There, my friend, that’s what you need to do. Clean up your life,” I say.

“But we’re not finished. There’s more,” he replies. “There will always be more. Life is just that way. Look, that leaf is still hanging there,” I point out.

Bill observes the leaf with interest, then goes into my house for a few minutes and comes out with a piece of thread and a small stepladder.

Standing on the top step, he reaches up and grabs the suspended leaf. I watch as he ties one end of the thread to the leaf and the other to the branch.

“There. Now it will be more secure. It’s not where it used to be. But it’s hanging by a thread and a little help from a friend,” he says. Then he gives a half-smile and offers his hand. “Thanks, my friend, for the thread.” “Hang in there!” I say. — Beliefnet.com (Concluded)