I am home sick. \u00a0I’ve been in bed a few days now. \u00a0And so I have a lot of time to think. \u00a0To think and to observe. \u00a0And there is a lot of loss going on around me.<\/p>\n
So many good byes. \u00a0So many changes. \u00a0So many things we must let go of.<\/p>\n
We want to hold on. \u00a0Cling tight. \u00a0We are afraid of losing hold, losing touch, losing all we know, knew, love, loved, all our past.<\/p>\n
We hold things close. \u00a0We value them. \u00a0Sometimes we don’t know how much we value them until we lose them.<\/p>\n
We take things for granted. \u00a0Then we re evaluate, and try to be present, intentional, in the moment, see everything. \u00a0Not take today, this moment, this present for granted. \u00a0For it too will pass on. \u00a0Change will come.<\/p>\n
Did we appreciate it? Value it? Recognize it?<\/p>\n
Will we survive the loss?<\/p>\n
Often we are afraid we will not survive the loss.<\/p>\n
We hold things tighter.<\/p>\n
You might thing this is a blog about appreciating what we have.<\/p>\n
You might thing I’m headed for nostalgia, or reminiscing, or thankfulness.<\/p>\n
I’m not.<\/p>\n
Prepare for abrupt hairpin left turn…now.<\/p>\n
What are you holding onto? \u00a0What is in your hand? \u00a0What are you clutching?<\/p>\n
Why?<\/p>\n
Why are you holding it? \u00a0Cherishing it? \u00a0Clinging to it?<\/p>\n
Does it warrant being valued above all else?<\/p>\n
We are offered the greatest gift ever, and this is the season we speak most of it.<\/p>\n
We are offered reconciliation with the God of the universe, the God who is the intelligent designer, the cosmic power.<\/p>\n
We are offered forgiveness. \u00a0And freedom.<\/p>\n
And we need it. \u00a0Forgiveness. \u00a0And freedom.<\/p>\n
Are you an adult? \u00a0Then you have felt it, the sense that you have blown it. \u00a0Completely. \u00a0Blown it. \u00a0How do I recover? \u00a0How do I get through this mess, guilt, disaster? \u00a0How do I rise again from these ashes? \u00a0How do I escape this prison?<\/p>\n
By accepting the gift. \u00a0The gift of forgiveness and reconciliation.<\/p>\n
You will need both hands to receive the gift.<\/p>\n
Both hands to take hold of it.<\/p>\n
Which means you must let go of everything you are holding.<\/p>\n
Everything.<\/p>\n
Sounds crazy, right?<\/p>\n
We want to bring the gift into our life. \u00a0Add it to the pile of things we are currently holding.<\/p>\n
C.S. Lewis wrote an incredible book – The Great Divorce, telling the story of a bus ride from hell to heaven. \u00a0Everyone is welcome to stay. \u00a0But in order to stay they must lay down whatever it is they are holding.<\/p>\n
Remarkably, they cannot. \u00a0They cannot release those things which keep them chained to hell.<\/p>\n
Hell!<\/p>\n
They trade away the opportunity of life, light, forgiveness, reconciliation, God. \u00a0They trade God for whatever it is they are holding.<\/p>\n
So easy to see in someone else’s life.<\/p>\n
So hard to see in my own.<\/p>\n
What am I holding that is more valuable than\u00a0God?<\/p>\n
My stuff? My identity? My sense of self? \u00a0My pride? My sense of independence? My lifestyle? My family? My loves? My passion?<\/p>\n
We are offered the greatest gift. \u00a0Reconciliation, forgiveness, new life.<\/p>\n
It is not a gift that goes on top of the pile of gifts.<\/p>\n
It is a gift to be received with both hands.<\/p>\n
After we put everything else down.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I am home sick. \u00a0I’ve been in bed a few days now. \u00a0And so I have a lot of time to think. \u00a0To think and to observe. \u00a0And there is a lot of loss going on around me. So many good byes. \u00a0So many changes. \u00a0So many things we must let go of. We want […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1259,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/www.choosingcomedy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/empty-hands.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2O0qX-kg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.choosingcomedy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.choosingcomedy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.choosingcomedy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.choosingcomedy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.choosingcomedy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1256"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.choosingcomedy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1258,"href":"http:\/\/www.choosingcomedy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1256\/revisions\/1258"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.choosingcomedy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.choosingcomedy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.choosingcomedy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.choosingcomedy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}