Holding On AND Letting Go

Most of life is about letting go.  This has been a recurring theme in my heart and mind for months now, and while it might have something to do with the fact that my daughters just graduated from high school and my son is somewhere in the middle of Texas and I just watched a great group of our college seniors walk across the platform at graduation -- I think it's mainly because it's true.  


From beginning -- to ending -- it's about letting go.  And when we forget that --  when we try to deny it --  when we hold on too tightly or put up too many enclosures or try to fortify our ranks and rules and restrictions or just flat out live in denial -- it only makes things worse.  


Sometimes we just have to let...it...go.






The truth is, we entered this world with nothing, and we will leave it with nothing.  From the time of our birth we were completely dependent upon God's grace.  God's grace in the form of people who cared for us and nurtured us and taught us.  We did absolutely nothing to earn any of it.  It was given freely to us by those who benefited from the same selfless acts of others when they were young.


They gave, and now it is our turn.  What was freely given to us, we now have an obligation to freely give to others.  "Freely" means with no strings attached.   No strings, but hope --  hope in the future of our children, our students, our friends.

But that is SO unnatural for us.  "Look at all I've done for you!"  "Look at all the sacrifices I made so that YOU could succeed!"  "Who paid for all this?"  "Who was there for you when you were sick?  Who took you to the doctor and stayed up all night with you?"  "Who drove you to your practices, came to all your games, and did all your laundry?" "Who came to every single play and concert you were in and recorded most of them?"   "Who helped you with your homework?"  "Who held you when you cried?"  "Who has been your biggest fan all these years?"  "Who never gave up on you?"  Who???  Who???  ME, that's who!!

Life is about letting go.


And God said, "Who created you?  Who knows the number of hairs on your head?  Who knows every tear that has fallen from your face?  Who has held you in your darkest hours?  Who believed in you when no one else did?  Who absolutely delights in you and loves you completely?  Who sacrificed everything for you -- even My Only Son?  Who? Who?"







 And yet it was God who came up with the whole idea of letting go. What a crazy idea.  Giving us everything and then ON TOP OF IT ALL, giving us the ability to CHOOSE.  Free will.  Letting go.


 Someday we hope that those we love will return to us -- older, wiser, deeper, stronger -- living the dreams they dared to dream with God.

But for now,  it's time to hold on to the Truth that God loves my children far more than I ever could and their future is in His most capable hands, so I can, and must,  LET GO.