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Letting go of the Little Things

Once we mentally and emotionally claim someone or something as our own, we do not want to ever have to let go. Even though we understand these attitudes of possessiveness can stand in the way of our relationship with God, we are more inclined to explain to God why we need Him to help us hold on than are we to make God our first priority by being willing to let go of anything which holds too great a position within us.

My life has been an ongoing exercise in learning to let go. It began in early childhood with deaths and frequent relocations which severed ties to all my buddies. Losses of relationships, material possessions, etc. continued until I was faced with the biggest hurdle of all. Knowledge that someone needed me dead and not knowing how to stop the plot brought me before my God with a simple resignation to the inevitable and a plea to be forgiven for all my missteps. I did not even realize at the moment that I was--for the first time--truly letting go and placing it all in the hands of The Father.

The twelve years since I let go have a surreal feel as I have faced no new losses and have seen potential problem after potential problem just seem to be resolved through orchestrations not visible to the naked eye.

Today is a new day and I'm exhausted because I was not allowed to sleep last night. I may think I've succeeded in letting go, but I'm apparently still holding on to the little stuff. As we went through the exercise of examining the 'little things', it really got embarrassing: my dogs, my make-up, my dogs, my appliances, my dogs...

"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." --Matthew 4:19 (NIV)

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. --Matthew 16:24

Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." --Mark 10:21

Another disciple said to him, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."

But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead." --Matthew 8:21-22

Jane Mullikin
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