Release Before Embrace

Embrace.  If you are visiting from Five Minute Friday, not to worry.  I do not have the wrong prompt.  I will get to release.  I always find it interesting, when the Lord is trying to teach or correct me, or perhaps simply wanting to encourage me, that the same words, phrases, and themes seem to reoccur everywhere.  And that is how “embrace” has been for me lately.  So many things I have seen, read, heard and have been impressed on my heart all involve embracing.  And, very often, you cannot embrace something until you release something else.  Release before embrace.

GO.  We have all seen the iconic picture of a child on the edge of a swimming pool with a parent in the water – arms outstretched and waiting for the child to jump.  He wants to be in the water.  Wants to enjoy the fun and even trusts his father….but the letting go can be so hard!  Although the analogy is not a perfect one, I often see myself in the child unable to jump.  Missing the joy that could be his if he would just let go of the edge.

For me, I have had a difficult time not only adjusting to but also truly embracing this phase of life that I am in.  There are, no doubt, several reasons for this – more than a five-minute post allows – but God has been challenging me.  He wants me to more than content with (or resigned to) this time but to fully embrace it.  To do all, be all, and enjoy all that He has in store for right now.  Not holding on so tightly to days, times and stages of life that were comfortable for me.  That were a great joy to me and where my identity was well defined.  I need to release my grip.  When I do, I do not lose my past any more than I lose my identity but I am able to embrace all that God has for me now.

I can trust my Heavenly father.  I can let go and I can be confident that great joy awaits once I do!!