Those were the words a father spoke to his daughter. She had climbed onto the roof of the house. She wasn't of "spider-man-ability". A conveniently planted tree near the house made the climb easy. She was always a climber!
It's always easy going up. But after a while of going up, you come to realize that at some point you will need to come down. Coming down is not as much fun. When you are going up, you are focused on the goal. All she could see was blue-sky and the thrill of the climb.
But when you are no longer climbing up and begin to "look down"; things look very differently. Now she could see the height. Now she could see the risk. Now she could measure the distance of a fall. She was stuck.
It's always easy going up.
It's scary coming down.
So her dad came out to rescue her. As he helped her off the roof, the grip of her fingertips was much like the grip of fear in her heart. She couldn't let go. That's when her father said, "You have to let go!"
I wonder this week, does your Heavenly Father need to say the same thing to you? Have you been climbing up, up, up; never thinking to look down-and then you suddenly find yourself in a place of fear? You are stuck.
How do you get down? You have to let go. It is easier to say than to do.
There is a story told about a man who is walking through the woods, when one misstep results in him falling off the edge of a bluff. He is able to hold on only because he grabbed a protruding root. Hanging there, on the edge of a fall and disaster, he cried out for help. Suddenly an angel appeared. The angel asked him, "Do you think I can help you?" "Yes!" the man replied. "Do you think I will help you?", the angel inquired. "Yes!" the man echoed. Then the angel said, "If you think I can and will help you, then let go".
That's never easy. But letting go is actually an expression of trust and confidence in the one who is there to help you.
An interesting thing about most of us; is that we are not good at letting go. We hold onto the past. We revisit our mistakes. We fret over our sins. We will not forgive ourselves. We will not let go.
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus had this to say about forgiveness:
Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.'
14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
An interesting thing about that word: forgive. In the Greek it literally means, "to let go".
It has been my experience that usually the toughest person to forgive is, yourself.
What is it today holds you captive? What are you afraid to release? Could it really be that in letting go, that you could be free? Sometimes the first step to getting past where you are is to simply let go.
Do you think God can help you? Do you think God will help you? If you do, then listen to your Father, and today, "let go".
