Heart Matters: Learning to Let Go

I remember watching my little brother create this beautiful box kite; it even had a long string made of a combination of clothing materials that he salvaged from an old pile in the yard. He was so excited to see his work of art flow in the wind among the birds and you could see it on the innocent grin painted across his face.

When it came time to fly, it seemed God was in support as the winds picked up as he threw it in the air. But thought it was visibly flying, the tail of colorful strings was still dragging on the ground. It was his first time flying a kite so of course he had no idea what was wrong.

A man passing by told him to release the string that was attached to the kite, my brother was reluctant at first because to him that meant the kite would be out of his control and may even fly away, and being inexperienced he didn’t want that.

The man came over and encouraged him again to release his grip on the string a little more, he closed his eyes and did so, clenching his teeth in fear of the kite being carried away. But to his surprise, the kite went even higher and the beautiful tail he had worked so hard on finally had its moment to be displayed as it danced in the wind, exposing all its length and colours. My brother got so excited that he even began to release more and more of his grip on the string to see how high his contraption would go.

It can be so hard to let go at times. It is human tendency to want to be in control, to know what happens next and to anticipate the various results for the calculated actions. But to go high (as the kite did), this is a concept that we must learn.

Letting go is not carelessness or being carefree as many of us were taught growing up and having control is not always leading to success. We must realize that the growth of a seed is not dependent in merely tilling the soil, but in leaving it to be and break and eventually bloom.

We are encouraged time and time as believers to ‘trust God’ and though we might even repeat such, it is a hard thing to do because we want to know the outcome, its human nature, we want to know if we choose door A if we will get experience B but faith is blind-in that it is trusting something we don’t know nor see yet believing that if we do, we will get the results that are intended for our good.

We must let go of the reigns at times and allow God to do what He will and must to keep us aligned to His purpose for us.

There are times God will come as the man did to my brother and tell us ‘let go’ and of course we will be hesitant, but once we do, we will be able to see the beauty and the whole picture of what God has in store.

What have you been holding on to for so long that the strain of it has began to hurt you?

The longer you grip a rope, eventually it begins to give you rope burn. So many are still hurting and in agony daily because they believe keep holding on gives them control of the situation, but what if I told you, the moment you let go and allow God to take control is the moment you will be free from that agony? There is much beauty in life to experience, so far that God wants to take you, a peace that God wants to give you-but you must learn to let go.

Questions to ask yourself:

1. Does holding on to this make me happy?

2. Does holding on to this affect my health and wellbeing?

3. Do I truly have control? (of my emotions, mindset etc)

4. Will this matter to me 5 years from now?

5. Do I trust God enough to let Him deal with this?

6. Does this affect my relationship with others?

7. Am I at peace while holding on to this?

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