Thursday, July 28, 2011

Letting Go

On a beautiful spring day, the kind where you simply can't bear to be inside, I took my two toddlers outside to play.  After a short time of pushing them in the swings, I thought that such a perfect day as this one deserved a bigger and better playground!  I grabbed my keys and loaded them in the car.

Well, I loaded one.
My daughter came to me when I called and willingly climbed into her car seat to be buckled up. My son on the other hand... He clung to his swing, both hands tightened around the ropes, legs clenched tightly so that I couldn't lift him out of the bucket-type baby swing. I pried him out deftly avoiding those strong toddler kicks and wrangled him into his seat.

Our yard was nice enough, lawn, flowers, and two baby swings hanging from a simple swing set, certainly nothing wrong with it and big enough for two young toddlers. However, the playground I was headed for was better; ladders, platforms, stairs, slides, a hanging bridge, and fire pole. New, beautiful, and right on the beach, in short, paradise.
Driving the short distance from our house to the park, I listened to my little boy crying about his swing and tried to reassure him that we were going somewhere so much better!  He was far too focused on losing his swing to listen to my assurances that we were about to have super-big fun.

How many times does God have to pry our hands off of something and carry us kicking and screaming to the place he wants us to go?  We are SO sure that what we have is just fine and if we let go it will never be the same.
It's a matter of trust.
Yes, it is hard to give up your swing... but until you let go of the ropes, he can never take you to a better place.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Please share your thoughts. I will review comments as soon as I can. Thanks.