Life is...Letting Go

I was blessed to go to Green Bough House of Prayer this week. One morning I decided to take a walk on the trail that encircles the property. I specifically set out to use all of my senses to experience the wonder of God. Even though it was a cloudy day, the beauty of the trees budding and the flowers blossoming made for an array of colors.

I could hear all types of birds imaginable singing their various songs. I have to admit; birds are not my favorite. They’re noisy, they flutter, and they’re completely unpredictable. Yes, I realize how crazy that sounds and what I call noise others call a symphony so for me to consider the birds to be singing is quite a step.

At one point it began to mist. I had on a rain jacket so the mist wasn’t bothersome at all and actually felt refreshing against my skin. As I was walking through the woods, I came upon the tree in the picture.

I studied it for a moment and realized that it was dead and being held up by vines and some other trees. I thought, “It would just be safer if it fell.” If it’s just hanging there, it could fall at any time - potentially at the exact moment I was walking under it. I went under the tree and looked back. I saw the severed end from the stump then saw how all the vines entwined the tree and held it up. I stood there and knew there was a lesson in that but wasn’t sure what it was.

As I stared at the tree, I realized that the tree and vines weren’t in a symbiotic relationship. Well, maybe it was. Maybe there was something biological going on that I didn’t understand; but if the tree fell to the ground, it could decay and create nutrients for the soil for other things to grow and live. Hanging there it was simply a burden on the vines and other trees and possibly a hazard to those walking on the trail.

Let It Go

I heard, “Let it go.” Yep, there was the lesson. Let it go.

How many times have I hung on to something that would have been better to let go? Whatever it was created a burden on me, and I worked so hard to maintain it that it wasn’t doing me any good. As a matter of fact, it was hurting me or causing me not to grow because I was so consumed with the burden of holding whatever it was. If I let it go, it would benefit me and potentially those around me.

Able to Do Something New or Feel Freer

Whatever needed to be let go might be a relationship, a hurt, a fear, anger, a job, resentment, a title, the way I think something should be versus what it is, something I think that wouldn’t get done if I didn’t do it. Whatever the case, the tree reminded me of burdens I have carried in my life. When I finally unfurled the vine from the tree and let whatever it was go, I was so much freer and lighter and able to move on whether it was onto something new or just being free of the burden I had.

Will Be Made Stronger

I also thought maybe the vines and trees thought they were doing their job. Maybe they felt like they had to keep the tree off the ground. They didn’t realize how much better off they would be without holding the tree up and how much better the earth would be if they let the tree go and decay into the ground. I bet they didn’t realize that the nutrients from the tree would actually build them up and make them stronger in the future.

What Am I Holding on to?

It made me ask, what am I holding that I don’t need to be holding? What do I need to let go? Is there something in my life that if I let it go, when it died, the soil of my life would be made stronger and better? Absolutely, I knew exactly what God was telling me. He was confirming something I’ve been trying to let go for a while. The last of my vine is being unraveled so the burdensome tree can hit the ground. It’s just inches away.

What about you? Is there anything you are holding on to that you need to let go?