HEARING THE CALL TO LET GO
“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” - Lk. 9:22-25
In today’s Gospel, Jesus encourages us to listen to the inner voice of love and the death of old ways. He gently invites us to come forth towards a qualitative place deeper in our lives with the risk of pain, suffering, and brokenheartedness. He promises to wait for us, walk with us, and provide us with the strength, consolation, and peace we need to take each breathing moment one inhale and exhale at a time. As we embark on the desert journey of this Lenten season, Jesus draws us to ask the beautiful questions of how to live wholeheartedly in a half-hearted world. What vulnerabilities am I resisting where God is asking me to take a risk to go deeper in my life? How am I holding myself back? How do I live with open hearts and hands? What is dying and being born in me?
Hearing the call to let go continues to persist as an essential part of inner growth for me. Sometimes this growth demands relinquishment of what I hold most closely to my heart to have a life greater in meaning possibly. Surrendering challenges me to say one little yes at a time, to give all of me to all of life, and to learn how to live with my eyes on love rather than fear. It is giving God permission to reformulate a larger story for me and transfiguring my fears with courage. When I have taken the risk of being disturbed and changed in the past, I have often found myself coming to the edges of who I think am and stepping over the invisible geography of another world that is somehow behind what I thought I knew. Yet before making any leap, I usually come to face the question: Am I willing to give my life away so that You could save it and make full use of it?
Loving God, give me the courage to wrap the truth of transformation firmly around my questioning heart.
Tam Lontok