Let it go

Lately, I have been struggling with letting go of my previous successful professional career. This week would have been my last board meeting with Professional Grounds Management Society (PGMS) but with other life circumstances happening, I opted not to attend. It’s probably one of those blessings in disguise. While I am sad to have missed the opportunity to visit with my professional friends and colleagues one more time, it would have been bittersweet, and perhaps harder to walk away. While in Ukraine on mission, I received a phone call from a head hunter about a director of Grounds opportunity. I followed the lead wondering where it might go. Was this an opportunity from God, or a distraction from Satan? This is one of those instances where I miss my dad’s wisdom. He never told me what to do. But he would ask questions and make statements that would make you think. God sent a friend that for a moment in time was that voice of wisdom. He said “Don’t let the success of your past hold you back from you future.”

Are you allowing something from your past to hold you back? Is there something you need to let go of? It could be a past hurt. Somebody said or did something that hurt you and your having a tough time moving past it. It could have been an injustice that you experienced and your waiting for the wrong to be righted. Or you may have lost a loved one or someone close to you and your holding on to the memory, not allowing yourself to move forward. Or as me, you may be holding on to a past success, reluctant to move into unfamiliar territory.

Change can be hard. When God is moving you to a new place, sometimes it is hard to let go of the old place. Especially if it seems like a nice place. The Israelites also had a hard time letting go. While they were in the wilderness – and mind you the Lord was ever present with them, residing in the tabernacle, going before them in a pillar of fire or a cloud of smoke, even providing for their daily needs with manna from heaven – they longed for the “good ol’ days”. “We remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic, but now our appetite is gone. There is nothing at all to look at except this manna.” (Numbers 11:5-6). Wait. Did you forget that while you had this variety of food you were a slave? And you had a hard task master? God was working a wonder in them. And He is in us too. He was leading them to the Promised Land. A place much better than Egypt. “For the Lord you God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks or water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey, a land where you shall eat food without scarcity, in which you shall not lack anything” (Deut. 8:7-9). Oh, but first you have to leave where you are. He’s nőt bringing it to you. He’s taking you to it. And you have to let go of what’s holding you back.

Deut. 11:10-12. “For the land into which you are entering to possess it, is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you used to sow your seed and water it with your foot like a vegetable garden. But the land into which you are about to cross to possess it, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven, a land for which the Lord your God cares, the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning even to the end of the year.”

Where would you rather be? In Egypt where there are good things, and yes you are receiving some blessings. Or would you prefer to be in your promised land where the eyes of the Lord are always on it? Where He wants you to be. You got to let go of what’s holding you back. I’ve got to let you go of my past success to move forward and grasp my future.