Only By Grace: Let go to hold on

I think that through our lives, we learn that sometimes we have to let things go...

Perhaps it's a pair of jeans that used to fit 15 years ago, and we hold on thinking, "Maybe THIS year they'll fit!" Or how about the empty box in the basement that we might just need to use to pack something, although it's been there for the last 3 1/2 years.

Sometimes we let things go, only to grab onto something different...

The job you'd hoped for didn't turn out to be all you'd dreamed, but you dare to dream again, leaving the old behind and forging ahead to grab new adventure. Young daughters might find they hold tight onto dad's hand, until the right man comes along and takes her hand as his own. And perhaps there have been times we find we've conquered one vice, only to take comfort in a new destruction.

There are times when the releasing is easy, and other times it takes the very prying of our fingers off the object of our attachment. Some challenges present healthy change, some bring brokenness.

There are moments that will force us to let go, when we aren't presented with an option, and we are only left with empty hands and crushed hearts...relationships fall apart, people move away, children grow and leave the nest, loved ones die. Then there are times when we hold on with a white-knuckled fierceness, which causes our hearts to grow cold and bruised.

So, here's the question...

When you let go, what do you hold on to? Most of us tend to grasp at something when it seems there's nothing there to keep us standing, or when we feel we're about to lose our footing. And how practical are the choices we make? When we hurt, do we let go of the pain in exchange for the comfort of resentment? When we are left empty-handed, do we just...flounder? Do we reach out to hold on to anything at all?

And at the end of the day, at the end of our days, what will we just not let go of? What are we holding in our hands, in our hearts, that we don't even realize that our fingers have molded around that which we so tightly grip?

When I was really young, when I held my parent's hand, I knew I could let go of worry and fear...I could trust that I was safe, that I wouldn't fall...I let go to hold on tight!