Resolutions Redefined – Release (Part 2)
If you have not already, take a moment to download and read through our Resolutions Redefined Practice. These practices are intended to be sacred space for you and God to think about the last year and look with hope towards what is ahead in 2021.
I am a control freak. I like to anticipate what is coming so I am not blindsided. Well…2020 sure has challenged this part of my personality. So much has happened this year which I was not prepared for and, my guess is, this is true for you as well. Many of us have just been holding on for dear life and praying we would just make it through this year. We have been clinching our fists so tightly to what we can control as everything else seemed out of control.
Because this year has had so many ups and downs we may find that we are holding onto too tightly. We may be holding onto our hurt, our resentment, our disappointment, and our pain. This is not what our loving Father wants for us. He wants us to let go. He wants us to have open hands with all that happened with the year (good and bad) and release it to Jesus.
And you know why? It’s because our loving God knows us so intimately. He knows that what doesn’t get released breeds resentment and that which doesn’t get healed will continue to hurt. C. S. Lewis once said, “Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing monkey bars. You have to let go at some point in order to move forward.” I think this is so true. We have to open up our hands and release our grip to move ahead in the healthiest way possible.
This sounds easy but can be very difficult to do, especially when things ahead still feel uncertain. As this year ends and another one begins, may you open your hands to our loving God and release all that happened this last year.
Take a moment to pray this prayer over you and your family.
PRAYER:
“Dear God, I am so afraid to open my clenched fists.
Who will I be when I have nothing to hold on to?
Who will I be when I stand before you with empty hands?
Please help me to gradually open my hands
And discover that I am not what I own, but what you give me.
And what you want to give me is love –
Unconditional, everlasting love.” -Henri Nouwen
