Letting Go

I chose my word for the year (it’s PURPOSE by the way), and it’s become one of those weird hyper-sensitive things where I hear it all the time now.

I’ve been thinking about it. I’ve journaled about it. I’ve been doodling it. Reading quotes about it. Reading scripture about it…

So the following conversation was inevitable, I suppose.

At work yesterday I was packing up cookies to place out on the shelves for sale, and two of the plastic containers stuck together. Like seriously stuck together. Sometimes with gloves on I can’t tell if I’m actually pinching the thing I’m trying to hold, or not.

But I was definitely pinching those boxes! I could hear the plastic creaking. But they would NOT come apart! Like, they were suctioned together so tight it felt like perhaps they had been punched in the mold together at the factory, and were destined to spend the rest of their lives connected. Awww. ❤
Now, I sometimes (okay, I often) talk to inanimate objects.

If I’m about to drop something I’ll yell at it: “Nope! Don’t you dare fall!” Or if I run into a doorway I’ll look at it askance and say “Really? You didn’t see me walking here?” (Especially when I’m holding a tray, and it rams into my shoulder.)

Am I alone in this? I doubt it. [But seriously if I am, just let it be.]

Yesterday was a first for me, though. I hadn’t yet given a pep talk to inanimate objects. 😬

But before I knew what was coming out of my mouth, I said to those boxes as I struggled to unstick them: “You’ll never fulfill your purpose if you DON’T! LET! GO!!”

And then the Lord tapped me on the shoulder and pointed right at my nose.

Ouch.

I’ll never fulfill the purpose God has for me if I don’t let go of…
…other people’s expectations
…my fears
…mistakes from my past
…dreams that God has said no to
…control in my life
…worrying about what other people think of me
…the illusion of perfection
…my timeline for accomplishing something
…what I think the rest of my life should look like.

The list could be (and is!) so much longer, but it really made me stop and think. What am I holding onto that’s actually keeping me from fulfilling my God-ordained purpose?

Sometimes I get ideas and plans, and I convince myself they are the will of God. But when He reveals something different to me, I balk. I hold a little tighter to what I know, or what I want, instead of letting go and trusting that He has something better.

I want to fulfill my purpose.

I’m working on letting go of what’s keeping me from doing that.

2 Timothy 1:9 “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,”

Proverbs 16:9 “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.”

So, what is He asking you to let go of?