Let It Go

“Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” Psalms 55:22

Have you ever been so Stressed about something that you hold on to something so tightly that you start to have imprints on your hands from whatever you’re gripping? I like to wear my nails a little longer and I can always tell when I’m holding on too tight because I start to dig into my palms and leave little nail prints. Sometimes, it even starts to hurt once I realize I’ve done it and let go of the tension I’ve caused in my hands. It’s in that moment I recognize that I’ve caused myself more pain and harm by holding on than I could have by letting go. Often in stressful situations we tend to, as people, get a firm grip of a component and refuse to let go. Maybe its a point you were right about, or a broken promise, a timeline or schedule, or maybe a specific way of doing things. Whatever it is, Stress will cause us to hold it as tight as we can.

Why do we do this? Stress is often brought on because we don’t know what’s going to happen next, things are all coming at us at once, or we are at a loss for what to do. We feel a tense mental or emotional strain because we are losing our sense of control. Control. The thing we all crave in life that keeps things in order, running on schedule and going according to plan. When we lose control, we fight to get it back because control is safe. And if holding on to something so much that it hurts means getting a semblance of that control back, we do it. But how much good does that do?

Last week I wrote about the plan not being yours and relinquishing the responsibility of the plan over to the someone who can handle if far better than I can. Just like the plan isn’t my responsibility to control, I can let go of other things as well so I can be less stressed about it. What’s going to happen is going to happen, and by fighting it one of two things can happen. I can prolong the inevitable, which won’t make it hurt less but often hurt more. Or I can prevent the natural adjustment from occurring. God tell us to cast our burdens onto him and he will take care of it. (Psalms 55:22) If I stop trying to force control, then things will naturally begin to align back to where they are supposed to be.

Now don’t get me wrong. There is a time and place to exercise control of a situation. You shouldn’t allow someone to mistreat you or abuse their power over you for the sake of harmony. Letting go of control does not mean giving it to someone who should not have it. It means not forcing yourself to have it when it does more harm than good. Use your voice and stand up for what is right, and always ALWAYS walk away from a situation that is trying to hurt or destroy you.

So what are you holding on too hard to? What is causing rope burns or nail prints in your palms? Take a deep breath, let it go, and let God do the rest.