Letting Go

Letting go?  Why?  We like to hold onto things … to be attached to our stuff.  We have a hard time letting go. The proof may be seen in new home construction and the increased use of ‘self-storage’ units.

According to recent stats in IBISworld, annual self-storage revenue is projected to rise to $37.5 billion in 2017. And the national average cost per square foot is almost $1 per month. Americans have a hard time letting go of our stuff … But it is also true of ingrained habits and preferred ‘likes’. We like what we possess.

But Jesus challenged his disciples about this idea of ‘letting go’:

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Luke 9:23-25

“In reality, although following Jesus and leaving everything go hand in hand, it is necessary first of all to follow Christ in order to be able to leave everything. Indeed, only to the extent that I follow Him, that I walk in His footsteps so as to become His disciple little by little, do I discover how cluttered my life is, how much I need to be set free. At the beginning…we are ready to make radical sacrifices. We would like to leave everything, give everything. But, very quickly, we discover that God always asks of us something that we had not thought of, sometimes even apparently insignificant things of which we are incapable of letting go.”   -Dom Jean-Charles Nault in “Follow Me” Aleteia blog post dated 21 September 2017.

Following Jesus is about learning all the things we need to let go of so that we can experience life in Him. It takes us on a journey of discovery about ourselves. We find those secret attachments, those unconfessed refusals, those secret wounds that hold us back. The acknowledgement that following Jesus is “beyond our capacity” is the most beautiful proclamation because only in our humble poverty do we begin to understand life in the kingdom.  Spiritual growth – it’s all about letting go to follow Christ as a fully devoted disciple!

Think about it!