Let Go

 

Letting go is hard. It just is. Plain and simple. What we hold onto, more or less gives us a sense of security, or perhaps purpose. We all need something (or rather Someone) to hold onto, even if the way we are doing so is reaching out in the darkness. Yet there are times in life when those spots in our lives that we just don't want to move on from will consume us if we aren't careful.

We cannot receive anything in our hands if we are holding onto something else tightly. We have to be willing to lose what we are grasping at in order to be free of it. Whatever it is we are clinging to will be the very thing we are asked to give. If we are willing to do that, we will find that this new disposition keeps our hearts lighter and directs our eyes to the next life. For we really cannot take anything with us...except what we give away.

The freedom that comes from surrender is very powerful because trying to do everything by our own control is incredibly narrow. The opposite of that is a cascading waterfall that knows no bounds because the floodgates are released. There is an openness about surrender because we are giving up control. We are letting God in and accepting, or I would say even embracing, the truth that He is in control.

On this Laetare Sunday, we are given a light amidst our Lenten travels to remember that there is a purpose to the "not-knowing," "lost-in-the-woods," "groping-in-the-darkness," kind of prayer that often hits us mid-Lent. A joyful person is one who has found that freedom in surrender--a willingness to lose anything and let go of anything except Him.