Holding on and letting go
When to hold on and when to let go is a recurring question in my life.
How do you decide what to keep or what to discard? The question applies to things, attitudes, habits, beliefs and sometimes people.
These thoughts are prompted by my feelings about a recent change to a newer car. I have had to let go of having a mechanical handbrake and get used to an electronic parking brake instead. That is proving an exercise in trust. My husband assures me it is a much safer system than the old method, but I have not found the change easy.
Sometimes though it is time for change. That often involves letting go of something in order to make way for something better. Last year I posted about thinking of Jesus' 'Beatitudes' from the Sermon on the Mount as some kind of call to 'let go'. This was a new way of thinking of them for me and I found it really helpful. Perhaps you may find it helpful too. Try reading 'Beatitudes: a call to let go'.
PRAYER WHEN CHALLENGED TO CHANGE
Help me to hold on to what is good for me and to let go of what I need to release.
Image credit: Pixabay, public domain
It's even harder to completely change your life. I did, through God's grace, but the change was still difficult - I don't hanker after the old life, as that was quite egocentric and displaced room for God and people to a large extent. When I retired, I had planned to work part-time and to do all of the things that I promised (a bucket list) myself. But God had other idea's and now after nearly 7 years of retirement, I am within a few months of being licensed by the Bishop for Lay Ministry - something that had never, ever featured in my plans for the future. The irony being that my license will only run for two years until age 70, when I will have to request PTO. God and the Church take their time, but if we're patient, all eventually works itself out.
ReplyDeleteI'm also retired, but now with 'Permission to Officiate' as a priest. There is no retirement in the Christian life but discerning how best to serve as one gets older is not always easy. I pray that your LLM service will be long and fruitful well past the licensing period. It strikes me that from a biological view point to live is to change - the cells of our bodies are constantly renewing. So to live as a Christian also implies continual change. Without change there is no growth only death.
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