unravel

1. to separate or disentangle the threads of

2. to free from complication or difficulty; make plain or clear; solve: to unravel a situation or a mystery

3. to take apart; undo; destroy

Nobody wants to be unraveled. 

The picture of a disheveled and wild-eyed disoriented crazy person sits beside the word in the dictionary. We bathe and primp. Floss and flush. Deodorize and brush. We want to appear together. To unravel is to pull apart. Crack the thin veneer. 

A friend said, “For my part, ‘unraveled’ evokes images in me of being a bit frazzled and frayed--not really how I want to feel most days.”

But what happens when everything you believe in and live by is smashed to bits by circumstances? Does catastrophe work to re-form our lives? Can we begin to see God as He actually is and not the way we imagined Him to be? On our good days, we know we have the companionship of God. When it appears we have nothing else, is that enough?

There are moments in life when we are splintered. As children, perhaps, we make the decision not to be undone. We hold ourselves together by whatever means necessary. Maybe we kill or numb our hearts. We vow: I won’t be undone. Something in us says we will die if we don’t pull it together. But we won’t be able to put ourselves together again. So then as adults, we have to learn to let God unravel us. Unbind us. 

Sometimes when He unbinds us, He unravels us. 

Look at these other words… disentangle. Clear up. To free from complication or difficulty. Unravel is remarkably close to unbind. 

We want to be set free. We don’t want to unravel. Often, the latter is necessary.