01 April 2007

detaching

It's a season for new things.
If we did not sustain the stillness and barrenness of winter,
I'm not sure we'd enjoy the glorious spring.

Part of God's lessons the last several months have been about dying. He's helping me put to death the visions and dreams of what I thought was on offer.
He's helping me crucify the ideas I had about identity.
He's helping put to death pride.

Part of that means detaching from things. It's pretty obvious when one's job is discontinued that one has to detach from it.
But the associated dreams, the relationships, the colleagues, the experiences, to name a few, those things need to be released. They require detachment.

We also have such seasons in friendships. Although a detachment doesn't mean cutting off completely, it does mean a different posture.

I've been grieving, along with the employment changes, the loss of my good friends K and La who are moving away. Part of me wants to act completely irrationally, cutting off relationship with them effective immediately, as if that will make the pain of their parting less significant. The more reasonable part of me longs to spend as much time with them as possible before they are "out of reach."

Thus, I've been lamenting to God, "isn't the job change enough? do you have to shift everything???"

But what if detaching from one thing truly opens the way for you to attach to something else??


Would it have profited God's kingdom for John, James, Peter and the 12 to cling to Jesus or was there something for all to gain in Jesus' death and resurrection?

Can I surpass the fear of dying so that I can really live??

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is in being willing to let go that which is dearest, that God refills and refreshes and leads to a better although as yet unknown future. Even Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration wanted to set up the tents for Moses and Elijah and Jesus to 'preserve' the moment. God replies to Peter with the words "this is my beloved son, hear him". Sounds like a plan huh. Frank

White Rabbit said...

i've been learning a lot about the need to not deny the pain of death. i believe the pain serves a purpose. i don't know exactly what it is yet, but i don't think we should deny it. We shouldn't linger in it longer than necessary, but we shouldn't pretend the fire doesn't burn us either.