Let Go and Let God

I am reading Dreams of a Woman by Sharon Jaynes. It is a really great book. I recommend it to everyone. I wish it wasn't a womany title, because the men need its message to. I was expecting something a bit different when I selected the book. I have to admit I was a little disappointed at first, but, wow this book, in addition to others I have recenlty read, has changed my understanding of the atonement and Jesus Christ. I love it!!

Anyway, here is the excerpt I wanted to share:


One day my son was turning flips on the monkey bars on the playground and got a peice of bark in his eye. "Get it out!! Get it out!!" he cried. While he was in pain and desperately wanted me to remove the bark, he wouldn't remove his hand from his eye to let me attend to it. He vacillated between "Get it out" and "Don't touch it". Finally the pain overcame his fear, and he decided to trust me. It took me 45 minutes to convince him to remove his hand and 30 seconds for me to remove the peice of bark from his eye.

What a lesson: Let go and let God.

Along the same lines, I heard a story about a little boy who had his hand caught in a valuable vase. His elders pushed and pulled, tugged and twisted, but nothing worked. After some time, they decided they would have to break the vase, valuable as it was, to free the boy's hand. But before the hammer came crashing down on the beautiful procelain, the boy's father coaxed him one last time. "Son, I want you to open your fingers and spread them apart, draw them together at the tips, and try one more time to slide your hand from the vase."

He replied, "I can't open my fingers like that, Daddy, because if I do, I'll drop my penny!"

The boy's hand was stuck becaue his tight fist clutched a penny. They were about to sacrifice something very valuable because he would not let go of something worthless.

How about you? Are you hanging on to disappointment, an unfulfilled dream, not allowing yourself to be free to move where God wants you to move? Like the boy with his hand caught in the vase, are you held captive because you, too, refuse to let go? Oh my friend, God has such great plans for us, His children. Let's let go of the past and be free to become all that He has created us to be.

Broken Dreams

Just as my child brings his broken toys
with tears for me to mend,
I took my broken dreams to God
because he was my friend.
But then instead of leaving Him
in peace to work alone,
I hung around and tried to help
with ways that were my own.
At last I snatched them back and cried,
"How could You be so slow?"
"What could I do, My child," He said,
"You never did let go."
By Faith Mitchner