What is it that you hold on to? What is it that keeps you at a standstill in your faith? Perhaps it is old patterns of behavior or things that have become deeply woven into the fabric of your lives, that you cling to. Maybe it’s your dreams and or your goals yet to be accomplished or that can never be realized. It can be these type of things that keep us stuck in the past or forever reaching into the future, ultimately keeping us from being open to the present.
It is not that having goals or dreams is wrong, or that even many patterns of behavior are wrong. It’s more about holding on to things so tightly that you are unwilling by faith to move, heal or change as perhaps God would call you. For example, I believe that God expects us to make plans and to have dreams and goals. but I also believe that we need to be able and willing to put those aside. We are intended to live by faith not by plan.
All of us cling to things. All of us have areas of life where we are afraid to let go and trust. God of course knows this and is ever at work in us to free us from those things that we hold tightly to. Sometimes it is the gentle pulling, prodding, and even prying by the Spirit of God, that sets us free. But many times it is in and through the hard circumstances of life that we learn to rest in God and to let go.
As I consider my life over the past few years, God has certainly been teaching me to let go. Not that I have totally learned it yet, but I have seen that the willingness to let go has brought me freedom and peace. It can be exhausting to hold on. We all need to get to that place where we feel free to let go. Basically, it is all about faith and trust. It’s about our decision to put ourselves, our situations and our lives into the hands of the one who loves us and will not let us go.
Henri Nouwen shares a story that speaks to this. He writes,
The flying Rodleighs are trapeze artists who perform in the German circus Simoneit-Barum. I introduced myself to them as one of their great fans. They invited me to attend their practice sessions and suggested I travel with them for a week in the near future. I did, and we became good friends. One day, as I was sitting with Rodleigh, the leader of the troupe. He said, “As a flyer, I must have complete trust in my catcher. the public might think that I am the great star of the trapeze, but the real star is Joe, my catcher. He has to be there for me with split-second precision and grab me out of the air as I come to him in the long jump”. How does it work? I asked. “The secret, Rodleigh said, is that the flyer does nothing and the catcher does everything. When I fly to joe, I have simply to stretch out my arms and hands and wait for him to catch me and pull me safely over the apron behind the catchbar. You do nothing! I said suprised. Nothing, Rodleigh repeated. The worst thing the flyer can do is to try to catch the catcher. I am not supposed to catch Joe. It’s Joe’s task to catch me. If I grabbed Joe’s wrists, I might break them, or he might break mine, and that woud be the end for both of us. When Rodleigh said this with so much conviction, the words of Jesus flashed through my mind: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Dying is trusting the catcher. To care for the dying is to say, don’t be afraid. Remember that you are the beloved child of God. He will be there when you make the long jump. Don’t try to grab him; he will grab you. Just stretch out your arms and hands and trust, trust, trust.”
What is it that keeps you from letting go?
Picture: Hang on! by Shermee
Quote: Henri Nouwen, Our Greatest Gift: A Meditation on Dying and Caring
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