I heard a wonderful story on Sunday and I wanted to share it with you.
There was once a man walking along a difficult path. The path progressed along a dangerous cliff edge. The wind came up and blew the man right of the edge and over the side of the cliff. The man managed to grab hold of the ledge with one hand and was clinging to the side of the cliff unable to help himself.
A voice came to him and said: "Do you believe in God?"
The man replied, "Yes, I do."
The voice came again, "Do you believe that He made the wind?"
The man instantly replied, "Yes, I do."
The voice replied, "Do you believe that the Lord can use the wind to blow you back onto the cliff?"
The man said, "Yes, I do."
Then the voice came again and said simply, "Then let go."
I have come to discover that often, the hardest thing I ever do is to let go. To believe with my whole heart that God can and will handle it for me. To believe that He will help me and guide me. To believe that He does know who I am, where I stand, and exactly what I need.
If you look to the right of this article on my blog, you will see that my word for 2011 is "Release". I read a blog before the first of the year that talked about the problem with New Years resolutions. As someone who has always tried to make them (and failed miserably at keeping them), I was very interested in finding something that would work for me.
The premise is that you simply pick a word that means something to you. And then you try to incorporate that one word into the different aspects of your life. The word I chose was release. It is to help me remember to let things go. That I don't need to worry or fret over everything. That I just need to breathe and release it.
So far, it is working for me. This story reminded me of my word for this year and how important it is for us to "Let go and let God". I have learned that the times I struggle the most are the times when I want to have total control. Those are the times when my hand is grasped onto the ledge and I really need to let go.
"Some people think that it is holding on that makes us strong - sometimes it is the letting go".
"Breathe,
let go,
and remind yourself
that this very moment
is the only one you know you have for sure."
Oprah Winfrey
"When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be."
-- Lao Tzu
That really would be hard to let go and believe you'd be blown up the cliff, but we are often to do difficult things and just believe. I would love to get to the point where I do not hesitate one second, no matter what that difficulty is.
ReplyDeleteWow, that would be really hard to let go when our brain is wired in gravity. Tons of faith would be needed.
ReplyDeleteThanks for describing what the "word" on every one's blog is for. I had no idea. :-D
When I was younger, it was really hard to let go or release. I'm in a better place in my life now and things are easier for me to manage emotionally. My life right now is calm and peaceful. I was thinking why that is - I think it's because I've had WAY too much stress in my younger years and I deserve happiness and calmness now -- or did I learn to manage it from the trials... hmmmmm. :-D
I've seen quite a few bloggers writing about their "one word" resolution for the year and I have to say it seems pretty effective. It is easy to remember and you can be so creative in how you incorporate it into your life. Plus with just one thing to focus on, you tend to not lose sight of it.
ReplyDeleteI think releasing is a very difficult thing to learn to do ... but a lesson we all need to learn at some point. There is a lot of freedom in just letting go.
I absolutely loved this thought. Trusting God is not as easy as it sounds. Beautiful analogy. Meant a lot today. I think the other hard part is letting go of others and letting God be in charge of their lives too.
ReplyDeleteAmen. Have faith, let go, and let God! ;)
ReplyDeleteTrue. I love the sign too, lol.
ReplyDeleteLetting go is hard--especially when I think I can hang onto someone I love to keep them from going over the wrong edge. I guess sometimes they need to go over the cliff and learn that God will catch them. But I'll close my eyes while they fall!
ReplyDeleteThis was a great post, just what I needed. Thank you for posting it on MMB so I could find it :)
ReplyDeleteI'm working on letting go of things I can't control as well. It is a constant daily thing for me. I just keep trying to remind myself that worry is like a rocking chair, you can rock and rock and rock but you'll never go anywhere :)
Thanks again for your words!
I guess its one thing to think you believe and trust and its a whole new ball game to when it comes to acting on it.
ReplyDelete