Letting Go to Take Hold

            Letting go is hard for me, especially when it is something very precious to me or has brought significance to my life. 

            Although I’ve heard the saying that from the moment a child is born we are preparing them to leave us, the process of letting go isn’t easy.  It seems like only a few sleeps ago that I chose to let go of my first born, who was three hours old, so the neo-natal nurse could take him to the nursery.

            Then there was his first day of preschool.  I remember walking out to the parking lot, feeling like my arms were heavy in their emptiness.  My “baby” had left my embrace for the big world. 

            The stakes were even higher on his first day of middle school.  The realization that this was truly the beginning of the end of my hold on him brought moisture to my eyes and tightness to my gut. 

            Not too long ago, tears dripped down my cheeks as I commiserated with a mother’s emotions as she described her sense of loss as she pinned her son’s corsage on his wedding tuxedo.  She had to let go in order for her son to grasp onto to what lay ahead of him. She realized that no man can be held by both his mother and his wife.  It was her job to let go.

            This truth permeates our lives.  How many times have we tried to take hold of something new without letting go of the old?  We must move our belongings and leave an old house in order to move in and fully live out of our new home and neighborhood.  We must let go of the emotional ties to our old job and move with conviction and perseverance into our new opportunities.  When we ask Christ to be our Lord and Savior, we leave the old life that is ruled by sin and take hold of the grace and love that God offers through His Son. One stage must be left behind in order to move into the next.

            The apostle Paul encourages us when he says, “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13, 14 NIV)

            Has God put before you a new goal for the fall of 2007?  There may be something that has brought you pleasure, significance or meaning last year, last month or even yesterday but today God is saying he has a new thing.  “Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history.  Be alert, be present.  I’m about to do something brand new.  It’s bursting out!  Don’t you see it?” (Isaiah 43:18,19 MSG)

            May we have open hearts that can listen and discern the movement of God’s Spirit in our lives and in our church as we end 2007.  Let us let go of the old so you can take hold of the new.  The change is propelled by the movement of the Holy Spirit. Be alert!  Be Present! 

Note:  This article was published in part in "Came a Whisper ", (Fall 2007), a publication of Centre Street Church.