The phrase “letting go” is a well-worn cliché used by nearly every person alive at one time or another in their life. We casually use the term and mouth the words without any genuine appreciation of its real inward power of what it truly means to let go. I’ve observed people like myself leave claw marks with their fingernails grasping and holding on tightly, unwilling to let go of anything in their life. The power and practice of letting go is something all of us can benefit from in our lives.
Letting go means just what it says. It is an invitation to cease holding on tightly to anything that controls and robs us of our peace in life. It is a conscious decision to release and no longer cling to a person, event, particular time, or desire. It is the ability to let go of things we have no power to control in our lives. It allows items to be as they are, not as we hope. In letting go of something, we learn to no longer resist by coercing and struggling to hold on to something that will never change.
Letting go is also learning not to give power over what we want and think we need—the things we like and dislike place a tremendous emotional impact on us. Sometimes we need to let go of the things we think we love as much as we think we hate. (When Life Falls Apart)
We get stuck holding on to real and false hopes and desires in our lives in our minds. When we practice living in the light of Christ at the moment, we can view our desires, fears, and insecurities from a proper perspective. The love of Christ searches our hearts and gives us the eyes to observe our actions in the light of his grace, genuinely understanding what we need to hold onto and all the things that we need to let go of to have a peaceful and contented life.
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