Letting Go - (deep sigh) NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooo!!!! (Now in my Arnold schwarzeneggar voice).
"Letting go" and 'Lift up your eyes" are those two phrases that cut me deep this week. "Letting go" triggers a picture that all of us are very familiar with June thru September. There I am on the docks, it is Sunday afternoon and groups have just boarded the houseboats. I am filled with nerves, excitement, and hunger. A driver looks out their sliding door and says, "I am all good to go!" I smile and think to myself, "No you are not! You don't even know how to get to Columbia without following someone!" Yet I smile and begin to untie the stern lines. The process of untying the lines and shoving the boat off the docks is so often a "Picture-process" (if you will) of "letting go." I know God is ultimately in control of the Houseboat and everyone's lives on that boat. I also know that "stuff" can go wrong in a hurry. For the campers to experience God on houseboats I need to untie the ropes and "Let go" of my control. "Letting Go" of the rails allows me to experience God in every aspect of the houseboat trip even if I am not directly involved with the trip!!! But what about the trip from October - May? What about the journey with God that happens each and everyday? What do the ropes and rails look like at home? At the office? With my family? With my neighbors and friends? WITH ALL MY STUFF!!!! (Truck, boat, house, hockey gear...in that order =))
Sonshine has been an incredible place that has taught me how to "Let Go!".....and I think you all might agree with me that Sonshine has been that place for you too!
"Lift up your eyes" - This phrase follows "let go" for me. Again I take you back to the docks. Once that boat is untied and pushed out.....I have to lift up my eyes from the ropes and cleats that once held it. If you have been admin before you will agree that a boat tied to the docks with kids going crazy looks very different than a boat 50 feet off the docks pivoting towards the 5 zone with the sun framing it's silhouette. "Letting go" releases the scales from our eyes to see God at work in and through our lives. This "letting go" affirms the "Ultimate Assurance" which allows us to "Just say Amen." The journey is "Up an Down...but always forward!" We have been "Blessed to be a blessing" so just "let go" and "lift up your eyes".....
Merry Christmas everyone! JINGLE BAM!
What a challenge it was for me to let go of those docks on Sunday too! Yet you're right, "letting go releases the scales from our eyes to see God at work in and through our lives." Sweet relief!
ReplyDeleteWow so many thoughts from this post
ReplyDelete1. Couldn't stop thinking of the song "Let It Go" from Frozen...
2. I appreciate your use of every sermon title so far at the end
3. The visual of standing on the docks as houseboats pull away toward the 5 zone made me realize that in letting go of the driver role I've had the past two summers I have an invitation to trust God even deeper, because of my lack of direct involvement like you're saying, knowing that God will always be completely in control!