Letting Go and Moving On

We have started training for this year's Summer Ministry Team and I am excited to be doing it once again. For me, this transition of going back on the team is marking of the end of a year that has indicated a major shift in my life and thought. It has been fantastic. Not that it was without it's challenges, but rather it has been one where things have never made more sense to me. This entry may sound like a repeat of previous entries, but this to me is a summary of some of my thoughts this past year.

Anyway, through out various conversations and even some of my previous blog entries, I have been thinking about what is the biggest challenge for humanity. I was struck with this thought: The experience of humanity is letting go and moving on. This is probably not new to some or even most of you, but it got me thinking (which is a good thing?). People frequently talk about how the scariest thing is change and we often focus on that. We talk about how change is good and yet how it is intimidating. I am, however, starting to think that maybe change is not the problem or solution. I think the root of the fear of change is that we don't really know that letting go and moving on is the journey of life. Change in our lives is not something that is a necessity, but rather is a thing that is coming and there is nothing you can do to stop. The question is more accurately, are you able to accept the change and can you adapt to it?

When we cannot let go, change will cause much more trauma in our lives and it will leave us smashed on the rocks that if we can't figure out what are the things we are to hold onto. When someone dies and we hold on far too long and far too strongly, it may pull you down. You may think that you are drowning in it all. And you would be right. You would be drowning, but not because the person died, that the change occurred, but because you have yet to let go. By the way, I am not saying that we forget the person, but rather when we learn from their lives, then we actually take them with us.

In the same way, when someone commits an evil deed against you or continues to abuse you whether directly or indirectly and we let that act continue to dictate our lives, then we are actually surrendering more of our will and lives to something that shouldn't be in existence. Don't be shackled by the sins of the past. Seek forgiveness. I should point out that this paragraph still applies when you are the someone who commits the evil deed. Don't be shackled by the sins of the past. See what you have done. Identify them. Admit to them. Seek forgiveness and never go back. Let go of your sins and the sins of others otherwise they will bury you.

We cling to things that will never give us what we truly seek. We find that one good thing and maybe it is a really good thing and we cling so hard that we squeeze the life out of it. Whether it is the love of another person, the security of wealth, the power of our own hand, or the comfort of tradition. Instead of recognizing the good in things and being good stewards of them, we tend to take and take and take. Become dependant on those things and when those things fade away or disappear or break under the weight of our greed. We need to be able to let go and we will never be able to move on.

I believe this was what the downfall of Lot's wife was about. As the town she left behind suffered the consequences of their sin, she could not let go. She had to turn and look back and she died. This is a picture of what many suffer. They cling to their past and the way they like and it will cause them to die in their past. All the way from the guy who thought he could have made it in the big leagues if he would have been played in that last high school game to the widow who cannot navigate life without her husband to the man who will cut throats in order to secure his position of comfort.

Moving on, I believe, is like sailing on. Whether it is storming or dark or clear and bright, you continue to move forward, learning as you go. If you don't desire to move forward, then you will find it very difficult to proceed through the gates of heaven. You will only hope that it one day comes to you, when in reality, it beacons you and if you don't go, you may never reach it.

This is all apart of the way of the Christ. This is apart of the life of sacrifice. Putting aside the things that hold us back from reaching heaven whether those things are evil like the sins of the past or the comforts of this life.

The winds of change have come, are coming and will continue to come. Are you ready to let go of things that may destroy you? Are you ready to move on?

"Come gather 'round people

Wherever you roam

And admit that the waters

Around you have grown

And accept it that soon

You'll be drenched to the bone

If your time to you

Is worth savin'

Then you better start swimmin'

Or you'll sink like a stone

For the times they are a-changin'"

- The title track of the Bob Dylan album "The Times They Are A-Changin'"