Let it go doesn’t free him, it frees you

Let it go doesn’t mean letting him get away with it.

It means you get to get away from it. Away from the anger and the angst. Away from the clenching and clutching. Away from the wrenching of your gut that says, This ain’t right; something needs to change here.

Let it go means you speak your piece and take your leave.

Don’t wait around to see how he reacts. Don’t insist on meeting every objection he musters. And certainly don’t square off to put the gloves on and punch his lights out.

What is to be gained from engaging? Every time before you’ve come away bloodied and bruised. Never have you changed his way of thinking into your way of thinking. Why do you tarry? Speak in staccato. Hit your note and get off of it.

Walk away a free woman. You have brought right to light. Let it do its work, and you go do yours. Go do what you came for. Which isn’t to change him. It’s to change the world. One voice, one word, one soul at a time.

Meet you on the road. Let’s talk about all those ideas that just came rushing into your mind because you are no longer consumed by him. by lies. by fear. That’s freedom. Not just freedom from, but freedom for…action. That’s the furthest thing from subservient I know. In fact, it’s downright subversive.

Letting go doesn’t let him get away with it. It lets you get on with it.

Let us be off. There’s much work to be done.

just four words

The four most important words in my online vocabulary right now are:

I see things differently.

We’re divided in our loyalties.
We’re divided in our perspectives.
We’re divided in our politics
and that has proved to be divisive.

I knew these people before election day,
and I still know them now.
They are still good people,
helpful people, family,
friends and neighbors.

They work hard,
choose well,
and do the best they can
to get life done right.

Something has come between us.

This is what rancor does,
causing passion to forget
its better half has already
come.

We may see things differently.

But the only four words
I want to have said
to anyone I say a final goodbye to
are:

I love you, too.

Letting Love Show

Using our bodies may be the most sacred of all things we do on earth. It’s the one thing we are given that is meant to be used wholly for our time here on our earth – our LIFE-time.

The greatest testimony of all, beyond the life of our Lord, is our own life as we live it.

• We can castigate bullies, but if we are one, that means nothing.
• We can warn against the dangers of texting and driving, but if we do it, it means nothing.
• We can champion self-respect, but if we have none, it means nothing.
• We can caution against failing to set healthy boundaries, but it we fail to, it means nothing.

We, the wise, older set, who have lived life and have something to say, are resounding gongs and clanging symbols in the lives of those we love if we say one thing and do another. We become noise-makers, adding additional volume but no more meaning.

This, I believe, is why the biblical Paul so passionately begins his plea to the people of Corinth this way:

“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”

This precedes the beautiful “love chapter” of the Bible often read at weddings. Of the love that is patient and kind and doesn’t envy or boast. The love that’s not self-seeking, isn’t prideful or easily angered and keeps no record of wrongs. That perfect love which never fails.

That’s the love we can never quite live up to but which sets an example to reach for in our lives with another, and with all others, including ourselves.

First, we have to let that love come alive and be real in us, before we try to pawn it off on someone else. Otherwise, our hypocrisy is telling, and they will probably waste no time telling us! When we say one thing, but do another, it’s our unloving that’s showing.

We have to start with love, both for ourselves and the other – not an easy task. It requires perspective beyond ourselves to set a right course for our intentions and priorities. When we invite an honest look at the lives we are leading, we can align our thoughts, words and actions with the love God intends.

When we start with love, what we say and do makes a whole lot more sense.