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Holding Things Loosely
In her fine book, Splinters in My Pride, Marilee Zdenek reflects our deepest feelings. Those misty ones, hard to get a handle on. As the sights, sounds, and smells of different seasons began to create nostalgic itches inside me recently, she scratched one:
It was hard to let you go: To watch womanhood reach out and snatch you; Long before the mothering was done. But if God listened to mothers and gave in, Would the time for turning loose of daughters ever come?
It was hard when you went away; For how was I to know; Teh serendipity of letting go; would be seeing you come home again; And meeting in a new way; Woman to woman; Frend to friend.
Letting go. Turning Loose. Releasing the squeeze.
Being better at smothering than loving, we are blown away with the thought of relaxing our gargantuan grip. Because releasing introduces the terror of risk, the panic of losing control. The parting cannot happen without inward bleeding. The cowardly heart fears to surrender its prized toys. Even though it must say goodbye eventually.
Like releasing a dream; or allowing a child space to grow up; or letting a friend have the freedom to be and to do. What maturity that requires?
We are often hindered from giving up our treasures out of fear for their safety. But wait. Everything is safe which is not so committed. No child. No job. No romance. No friend. No future. No dream.
Need some proof? Check out Abraham with his almost-adult son Isaac. Genesis 22. The old man’s treasured delights rested in that boy. That relationship could well have bordered upon the perilous… if father would not come to grips with releasing son. But it was at that juncture that Jehovah-turned-pedagogue taught the patriarch a basis lesson in life.
“Take now you son, your only son, whom you love, Issac, and go to the land of Moriah; and offer him there as a burnt offering…” (Genesis 22:2)
I was time to turn him loose. Abraham might have started pleading or bargaining or manipulating, but that would not have caused the Almighty to choose an alternate course. No—Abrham had to open his hands and surrender on that ancient altar the one thing that eclipsed the Son from his heart. It hurt cruelly…beyond imagination. But it was effective.
The greater the possessiveness, the greater the pain. The old miser within us will never lie down quietly and die obediently to our whisper. He must be torn out like a cypress tap root. He must be extracted in agony and blood like a tooth from the jaw. And we will need to steel ourselves against his piteous begging, recognizing it as echoes from the hollow chamber of self-pity, one of the most hideous sins of the human heart.
What is it God wants me to do? To hold things loosely, that He might reign without a rival. With no threats to His throne. And with just enough splinters in my pride to keep my hands empty and my heart warm.
Deepening Your Roots
Genesis 22:1-18; Philippians 3:7-21
Branching Out
- Look around your house and name someone or something that would be hard to give up or let go of: ____________________
Release your grip by telling God He can have the person or the object.
- Take the time you normally spend watching your favorite TV show and spend the minutes instead with your spouse, a child, or a friend.
- Buy a book you really want to read, and then give it away without reading it yourself.
Growing Strong
A tough week? Most weeks always include a few rough hours. And most contain some special moments. What’s one from your week? __________________________________________________________________________________________________
