I heard this little title early this am but I didn’t really get the poem until later today. I certainly felt it in my heart as soon as it came. It kind of came with a surge of familiar anguish. Can I just be honest…..I hate to give up. It seems I have spent the last 4 years learning how to let go. I find my heart struggles so much with a release. I am a fixer….I like to reconcile things, resolve things, come full circle, see the happy ending, etc. Yet it doesn’t always happen…and it is a struggle to this heart. But I knew today it was time to release some things. A sweet friend texted me this week and said “make sure you are not carrying burdens around that aren’t yours to carry…” Of course I thought I had it under control…but the Lord showed me she was right. I was carrying plenty.
We can’t always control the outcomes of situations, we can’t always make things right, we can’t always fix things….and we can’t mend somethings that were broken and never repaired. But God knows I have tried till I am exhausted sometimes…anybody but me? But tonight I’m giving up….finally. I’m letting go of all of them…so I can move with the Lord freely while He does what only He can do….tend to that which is no longer in my hands. I am finding quite honestly we play God more than we realize…and we simply put, we get in His way.
When you and I know we have done all we can….and we realize He has seen our heart….we can trust Him to now care for the situation….and leave it be. It’s not really giving up….it’s just letting go….and we will have plenty of practice at it in this lifetime until it becomes a necessary art form:)
The Art of Letting Go
For some it’s a easy release
And onward is a natural pose
But for some of us the knuckles turn white
When Christ says “it’s time to let go.”
For mercy can be such a gift
Yet used by Satan to sift
Twisting the gentle heart strings
To enable a behavior that clings.
Unravels soon does a large thread
One string…another….then the rest
And finally the last pulls so tight
As a rubber band in need of a knife.
Courage and surrender you’ll need
When Christ says ” it’s time to release.”
And one finger, two, now them all
Christ says “now surrender it all.”
Like an art piece erased from the end
Backwards the brush strokes just re-spin
And soon the canvas again is blank
An emptiness you stare in the face.
But whispering is Christ from His throne
Saying “I need you to now just let go.”
The people, the places, and things
That have caused you to so tightly cling.
In a moment He shows you a hand
Gripped tightly to all that old land
Slowly He gently leans in
Says “release now and go rescue men.”
You’ll rather just add to the paint
Than start over with painful erase
But trust Him you’ll now have to do
With everything He’s already taught you.
See, there’s an art to learning to let go
And leave some to Christ… for He knows
The need that is deep in the hearts
The wounds, the bruises, and scars.
For we can be much in the way
And He knows just what now it takes
And, yes, we must bow to each road
And learn well the art of letting go.
MARCH 24, 2016
