Tag Archives: Letting go

Every minute of the last couple of weeks has been packed with activity.{Hence, my absence from here lately.} In between moving my mother-in-law to a smaller place and working at our dry cleaning business, Todd and I have tried to tame the jungle that is our backyard. We are sore from all the lifting, pulling and hauling.

My sweet mother-in-law has put on a brave face as she divvies up a lifetime of cherished objects. As we pack things into boxes, she tells stories about each picture and plate as if introducing us for the first time. She wants to pass on the history so that we will love these things too.

It’s hard…this business of letting go.

Todd and I took a day off from moving boxes and tackled the backyard the other day. All around the cotoneaster, lilies and wisteria are rogue weeds, mock strawberries and fake grapevines. The weeds have dug in, wound around and have no intentions of leaving.  Even nature yearns to hold on to something.

Why do we all cling so?  The Psalmist laments the same issue…

My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to Your word!

Psalm 119:25

As I look at all these tangled weeds, God reminds me of my own tendency to cling.  I am certainly attached to all the obvious things, namely, my loved ones.  But there is much more. I cling to having my own way, my pride, my opinions, my…my…my.  I also cling to what I can taste, touch, see and smell.  Something tangible.  And it’s not until God mercifully removes it from my hand that I realize that it is dust.  In His grace, He takes what is false and fleeting and gives what ultimately satisfies ~ Himself.

You have made us for Yourself, O Lord,and our heart is restless until it rests in You.

~ St.Augustine

O Lord, this world is too much with me.   When I cannot feel Your Presence, remind me that You are there.  When I cannot see Your divine hand in my life, open my eyes to Your wonder.  O Anchor of my soul, when I feel like I’m slipping and I can’t find anything to hold on to, bind me to Yourself!  When my thoughts turn dark and hopeless, write Your Word on the inside of my mind and all over my heart.  Father, I beseech You to be more real to me than all my circumstances ~ good and bad.  Give me a heart to cling only to You.  In Jesus’ name. Amen.