Nothing
teaches you to let go like losing something that’s important to you; losing a
loved one or breaking something of value.
We’ve all
lost loved ones, it’s the biggest loss we’ll experience. Everyone grieves
differently. We all go through stages of loss in our own way, at our own pace.
Letting go seldom follows a prescribed plan.
Scaling
things waaaaay back: we all lose petty
things, too. These kinds of things have no value to anyone but us. Although,
much easier to let go of, these things can still cause angst and frustrations.
Taking a deep breath and shaking it off can turn into taking two, three or four
deep breaths and shaking our fists because we don’t want to let to, but we have
to.
I recently
broke my phone and had to replace it. It’s sad, really, how attached we can get
to our phones. I suppose it’s easier to replace one if you’re part of the savvy
crowd that backs things up to a cloud.
Sure, I can transfer
my contacts and some of my text and old voice messages, my pictures – at least
most of them….
But, scores for games I’ve been playing for years? Gone. Predictive texts? Gone. Little things I looked forward to, or grew too dependent upon, I now have no choice but to start over and build up scores and vocabularies again.
I resent it,
because it feels like a waste of time; I’ve already done it before. Feels like I’m
back to square one. I guess it reminds me that I’m always starting something
over.
But, doesn’t
life happen in cycles? Having the opportunity to start over again should be a
good thing.
Blew my diet
yesterday? I was given today to try again to get it right. Fail a quiz at
school? Now you know you have to study before the big test that really counts. Forgot
to save that essay you were writing? You can do better when you write it again.
Sometimes we
get it right when we do things again, or when we do them repeatedly. Take
rejoicing – the more we rejoice, the more joy we experience, and as we know, “the
joy of the Lord is our strength…” (Nehemiah 8:10)
Take those
deep breaths, shake your head or your fists and let it break loose….. Let it
go. Honestly, your other choices aren’t productive. Perhaps that’s why this was
penned so long ago.
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things
I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.”
-
Reinhold
Niebuhr
Maybe we need to anticipate more from what’s to come, to let go of
what we had.
