On the first day of January, I was a bit late getting to my morning prayer. Thinking I needed to hurry, God once again reminded me that he could not be rushed. It took me a while to slow my mind. Reading through the Old Testament currently has me in the Psalms and that helped slow me to a reflective tone.
God began to speak to me about letting go of things. The obvious connection was our soon-to-be move, but there was, as always, more to it. Yup, after 24 years in our current home, we are moving. We’re not moving far; we’ll still be only 25 minutes from our grandkids, one of our greatest joys in life. But when it comes to packing your home up in boxes, it’s a sizable task. (Forty-four years of marriage can accumulate far more than the mind can imagine.) We don’t need this much room, but our stuff does. So, it’s time to let go of things.
I decided to start with something easy, like my books. I need to let go of at least a couple hundred books. No big deal, right?
Then I started going through book by book, seeing what I underlined, my notes, remembering when I read it, what I learned and in several books seeing that the author signed it. I would put some books in the boxes to go and 20 minutes later take them back out. This was not going to be so easy.
Three thoughts requiring action became clear:
1. Letting go of things makes room for the new God has in mind.
The tighter my grip on things in the past, no matter how good, will prevent me from taking hold of what God has in mind for the future.
Life, like possessions, tends to accumulate. Some is helpful and productive, and we carry it forward, and some we need to let go.
It’s not just old books—don’t even get me started about all my guitars—I mean, I have trouble throwing away old socks. (It’s a guy thing.)
The burdensome, unnecessary and more perplexing concerns in life, things not often visible, take up so much room in our soul and crowd out the necessary space for new life. (A “new song” as the Psalmist often describes it.)
What crowds your soul that you need to let go of?
- Is there a specific regret?
- Is there something you are angry about?
- Have you been hurt?
- Are you worried about something you can’t control?
- Are you carrying a sin that has been forgiven?
- Is there a failure you can’t seem to shake?
The need to let go of negative, unproductive, forgiven and worrisome stuff didn’t surprise me so much.
It’s what came next that caught me off guard: letting go of what seems like the good stuff. Not all of it of course, but many of my successes.
If God grants us any successes in life, our best response is gratitude and readiness for our next assignment. But we must also exercise caution to find a healthy balance between appreciating the success and becoming owned by it.
We need to let go of many of our “trophies” in life so as not to become stuck in the past, stop growing, and miss what God has planned.
We might be tempted to think, Look at all I’ve done. However, God is not overly impressed, and he’s saying, Look at all I have planned. All that was good is still good, but life moves forward and there is still much good to do.
2. Life will become dull like a dusty trophy on a shelf without the newness of God’s continual transformation in us and his kingdom work through us.
Our life in the past is what we build upon, not what we sit upon.
Side note: My new guidelines for books …
- If a book has only one or two good chapters, I take extensive notes but do not keep the book.
- Reading the entire book isn’t assured. If it’s not helpful, I stop reading it.
- Some books must be written by authors I don’t know, some I don’t agree with and on topics that are outside of my expertise.
- If the book doesn’t in some way help me invest in others, it can’t stay on a shelf for long.
I must tell you what just now happened as I’m writing. Patti texted me and said our son J.P. texted saying we could throw away all his old childhood trophies. I’m proud of him. At half my age he has twice my wisdom. He is leaning into his future.
You are God’s trophy, and he’s not done with you.
You might be 29 or 69 years of age, there’s so much more. And since I’m much closer to the second of the two ages, let me encourage you by saying that life continues to become richer, deeper and better if you allow God’s transforming process to continue.
Three things are required:
• Surrender your will to his. This doesn’t mean forfeit your dreams and renounce all desires. It means you are willing to trade them for something better. God dreams bigger than you do.The point: Keep dreaming, but dream with God.
• Let go of the things God asks you to let go of. It’s OK to tell God you aren’t thrilled about it or you have questions and concerns, but listen carefully to what God is saying and let go.
• Embrace the new. God never withholds what he has in mind for you. God may ask you to wait, but he will let you know, and when he does, say yes.
You must make room to grow.
It’s like the menu of ministries at your church. You have only enough time, space, energy and resources for a finite amount and specific combination of ministries. When you sense a calling to start a new ministry, it’s usually time to bring an existing ministry to a close. You can’t carry all of them. Most pastors are not resistant to the new, they simply can’t imagine adding another thing to an already overloaded calendar. Give yourself permission to let go of things and close ministries as God directs you. (Jesus teaches the principle of pruning. See John 15:2.)
3. Letting go of things exchanges short-term pain for long-term potential.
I don’t know what you might be facing as you begin this new year; it may be something quite difficult. However, life has taught us that we can’t go around pain, we must go through it. And God is in it with us.
Letting go of things prevents us from getting stuck, perhaps avoiding disaster. It’s like stories of long hikes in the woods or the desert. When something goes wrong and quick progress is necessary to survive, the first task is to lighten your load. It’s scary to toss what was deemed essential, but when you have a new and greater essential before you, it’s time to let go.
Don’t let the comfort of familiar pain prevent you from embracing the unknown discomfort of positive change.
Being stuck in a rut may be comfortable, but it’s never fulfilling. Realizing your potential always requires the road ahead—the road not yet traveled.
For Patti and me it’s not merely about moving to a new house, it’s about a new road before us. So please allow the extended metaphor. The short-term pain of a physical move is needed for the long-term potential of God’s plan.
- What is before you?
- What is next and new for you?
- What do you need to let go?
This article originally appeared on DanReiland.com and is reposted here by permission.