Letting Go Is Easy, The Problem Is Not Taking Hold Again.

by David Ritchie
Published June 21, 2004

Letting go is something we need to learn to do well, for it is a quality we need to call on many times on life's journey. As children we used to bathe in the harbour, and jump into the water off the edge of two wartime barges that were beached and sunk into the sand. Then as we got braver we jumped off the actual quay into the deep water. The really brave ones climbed part way up the high tower supporting the leading lights for the harbour and jumped from there.

The moment your feet left the quayside or you let go the iron bars of the tower, you knew you had let go and there was no turning back.

The trouble with letting go in so many other aspects of life is that it can be so easy to take hold again. When we see someone stumble the temptation is to grab hold again forgetting that we only made it this far through many tumbles, all of which has made us who we are today.

Those who find themselves relating to people new to the Christian faith can easily fall into the trap of being overprotective, and not allowing them to learn from their mistakes as we did. Forgetting our early (and some later) experiences when we were let go, and have learned some hard lessons that we will not forget. Of course there are major mistakes that we made or have learned from experience that it is wise to try to protect people from. There are even times when it is essential to take hold again.

I guess the trick then is to know when to let go, to get the timing right. I once got a tree from someone and noticed it was not growing. On investigation I realised that a wire support that had been put on to support the tree when it was young had not been removed and had bitten into the trunk. Apart from the very end of the wire it was completely out of sight. I removed it with a pliers but the damage was already done and the tree died.

It had not been let go and the very thing that was its support in early life was the means of its premature death. When we realise that the same God who protected us from some situations, and brought us through other situations, is the God of those he may have entrusted to our care, it makes letting go a whole lot easier.

There are so many other aspects to this topic, when you are holding on you are in control. Whose need is being met by holding on? Is it because we feel the need to be needed, that makes it hard to let go? However these questions can wait for another day.

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