MESSAGE from Rev. Richard Maraj Have you ever felt resentment or anger toward someone that you had a hard time letting go? Have you so deeply regretted a mistake you made that you keep beating yourself up about it over and over again? Do you still have clothes in your closet that you no longer wear? Exercise equipment you dont use? Journals from two decades ago that are still cluttering up your house? One of the major causes of frustration, unhappiness and unrest is our habit of holding on to things that dont serve us. We hold on to grudges, past hurts, disappointment, jobs that arent working, toxic relationships, limiting beliefs and all sorts of negative thoughts. Why do we hold on to these when we know theyre not good for us? Psychologically, many of us have a deeply held belief that holding on to things will keep us safe. Letting go scares us! We worry about what will happen if we let go, and about how it could change our world. At some level, we even believe that holding on will make our lives better when, in actuality, it keeps us from living as freely and fully as we can. Remember the Genesis story where Sodom and Gomorrah were being destroyed? Lot and his family were told their lives would be spared if they fled for the mountains - a higher place! - and didnt look back. But Lots wife couldnt resist; she couldnt let go of the past. She looked back and immediately became a pillar of salt. This wonderful symbolism of salt - a preservative - shows that when we preserve or hold on to the past, we become immobile like a pillar, unable to move forward. If were holding on to anger, resentment or regret from the past, we become stuck. British physician, writer and social reformer Havelock Ellis said, All of the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on. Holding on is not a bad thing in and of itself. Its only damaging when we hold on to things that hurt us, or arent working for our highest and best good. Trying to find that balance of holding on to the positive and letting go of the negative is an important aspect in our lives. Most of us believe well be happier if we add more things to our lives, but happiness is actually an issue of subtraction. Its about letting go of the things that are preventing our peace and happiness. What thoughts, fears and/or limiting beliefs are keeping you from being happy right now? Letting go of your pain opens you to greater possibilities. The extent to which you can let go of past resentments and disappointments determines the degree of peace you are able to achieve. Letting go of the past is what frees us, opens us, and helps us feel the presence of God and joy in our lives. Though it sounds simple, letting go is one of the most difficult of all spiritual practices. Like most things in life, to become good at, we need to practice on a regular basis. Here are some truths that will hopefully make that practice a bit easier. God will wholly support us when we let go. Theres a story about a man who was holding on tightly and frantically to a rope, unwilling to let go for fear of falling and being ruined. An angel approached him and said, You dont have to hold on; youll experience greater peace and a much better life if youll just let go. The man strenuously objected, Im going to keep holding on, because thats what Ive always done, and what everybody I know has done. I cant risk letting go. The angel asked, Would you be willing to let just one finger go and see what happens? The man agreed, let go of one finger, and immediately felt a little bit of peace. The angel continued to coax the man into letting go of additional fingers, and each time the man felt a little more peace. When the man was left with only one finger still holding on, the angel encouraged him to completely let go. While the man was still terrified to do so, he recognized that letting go had been good for him up to this point, so he finally decided to give it a try. When he did, to his surprise nothing happened. He realized that he had been standing on the ground the entire time. Philosopher and theologian Paul Tillich said, God is the ground of your being. Just like the man in the story, in every moment of your life, God is the ground of your being. God has got you! If you totally and completely let go right now, your life will not fall apart. You will be safe in the groundedness of God! You will be wholly supported and provided for, and will be opened to greater peace and joy as a result. The 23rd Psalm says, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. You can absolutely trust that God will always be there for you. Even if you let go, you shall not want. You will be loved and wholly provided and cared for. The Psalm continues, He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside still waters. When you are secure that God will provide for you, you can lie down and rest! You can stop fighting and working so hard to try and force things to happen. You can actually just let go, and let God. Proverbs 3:5-6 reinforces this when it says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your path. Know that the Lord is your shepherd, and trust that the Lord will take care of you. Dont lean on your own understanding, and try to figure everything out yourself. Surrender everything to God, and He will make straight your path. If you are willing to let go, God will provide you with everything you need. Whatever you are struggling with in your life today, are you willing to trust God enough to know everything will be okay? Are you willing to surrender everything to God and just let go? The Buddhists say, Let go a little and you get a little peace. Let go a lot and you get a lot of peace. How much peace do you want? How much are you willing to let go and give to God? Letting go is an act of love. In her book, The Prospering Power of Love, Catherine Ponder writes that letting go is one of the most powerful acts of love. For example, when we have a loved one who is struggling, our tendency is to try to tell them how to fix their life. We think we know exactly what needs to be done, and even pray to God to make our solution happen! Yet, as loving as our intentions may be, our desire to try to fix the problem our own way actually limits and restricts a genuine solution. Instead, the most loving thing we can do is release our loved one to God and their highest good. Dont try to describe or map out a solution; simply pray that whatever is for their highest and best will happen, in whatever form or shape that might take. Pray that Gods will -- not our will -- be done. Ponder gives the example of a man who was experiencing a serious health issue. His wife was pushing him to try all sorts of cures and remedies, but he was resisting all of them. After a time, the wife finally realized that the best thing she could do was just to release her husband. She started a prayer to release him. She prayed for his highest and best, whatever form that might take, even if it meant allowing his soul to move on. She continued to lovingly release him in this way. As a result, she began to feel a deep sense of peace ... and her husband began to do things again with a sense of joy. And he ended up being healed! He recovered, and everything turned out okay. Are there people in your life that you are trying to fix or problems you are trying to solve? If so, one of the most loving things you can do is release them to their highest good, and to whatever Gods will is for their souls journey. Do the same for yourself! Ask yourself: Do I love myself enough to stop punishing myself by holding on to this resentment and regret? Do I love myself enough to forgive? Do I love myself enough to let go of the past and all the pain that it causes me? Do I love myself enough to free myself to live a more joyful and peaceful life? Releasing others to their highest good, and releasing ourselves of pain and negativity, is an act of love that will bring healing and wholeness into our lives. Letting go liberates and transforms our energy. Eckhart Tolle says that, whenever we are holding on to something, at some level theres a payoff for us. When life isnt going well, most of us try to blame other people or situations for our problems. That provides us with a convenient way to avoid responsibility -- our payoff -- but it also keeps us in pain. After holding on to anger and resentment for so long, we become conditioned to really believing all the negative stories they breed: Life is unfair. People always betray you. No one will ever love me. My parents really messed up my life. We have believed these negative stories for so long, its almost as if we dont know how to live our lives without them! Think of the major issues that you believe are holding you back from happiness right now. Now imagine they are all gone, that every single one of those situations was resolved. What would you do with all of your new energy? What would replace those negative thoughts that took up so much of your time? What would you feel and experience and enjoy that you couldnt with so much anger and resentment inside? That is what you could experience right now simply by letting go. Releasing all that negativity opens a space for a life that is bigger and better than you could possibly dream! Are you willing to let it go, and accept responsibility for using this new energy to create something wonderful and marvelous in your life? Michelangelo created his famous sculpture, David, out of a ruined block of marble that had been rejected by all of his contemporaries. Michelangelo said that he could see the image of David in the stone, and all he had to do was chip away at everything that wasnt David. Each of us have been given a slab of marble called life, and we all have the opportunity to see our own David! We have the ability to see the life we want; our work is to chip away and let go of everything that isnt our David! We need to release everything that doesnt serve our highest and best good, and which is not in alignment with the lives we want to live. What do you need to chip away? What are you holding on to that you know its time to let go? Continue asking yourself these questions at least three times a day and youll begin the empowering process of letting go. By doing so, youll open yourself to experiencing an infinite level of peace, love and blessings in your life. God bless you all!
Posted on: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 00:12:31 +0000
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