Letting Go

"Cast all your [cares] on Him because He cares for you."  1 Peter 5:7 (NIV)

"Letting go" is a hard thing to do.  Just think for a minute about all the different ways you've had to "let go" in your life.  Perhaps what comes to mind is a relationship, a habit, a lifestyle...control.  I guess that's what most "letting go" boils down to, yielding control.

I pondered a few "letting go" scenarios.  As a child, I remember my Daddy letting go of the bicycle seat for the first time...leaving me in control.  I can almost feel the excitement and fear and freedom that rolled around with each other in the pit of my tummy!  I also thought of the day that as my Daddy walked me to elementary school...and I told him that he could stop at the bottom of the hill, that I could go the rest of the way by myself.  (I personally don't remember that moment, but my heart cries as I wrestle with understanding his feelings now that I have children of my own.)  Years later, I remember the hot August day that my Mama drove away from my college dorm...letting go.  And then there's that walk down the wedding aisle, my parents...again, letting go.

As a parent, I have faced...and continue to face...times of "letting go."  They are rarely easy.  They are usually accompanied with some degree of fear...worry...anxiety.  There was the very first time I left my oldest in the care of the nursery workers at church.  The day that I watched each of the four girls pose for their pictures on the first day of Kindergarten...then First Grade...and on until the oldest three didn't want their pictures taken on the first day anymore.  There was drivers education and the first time we let them drive away from the house...alone.  There were proms and first dates...and weddings.  Letting go.

As I walk through a current period of "letting go," the tears are there...the fear...the worry.  But I have a Heavenly Father that wants me to "Cast all my cares upon Him"...including my "letting go."  He wants me to trust Him...the One who holds the future.  Our sweet God is so personal...so gentle...so precious.  He spoke to me so clearly the last two days...through the precious little voices of my transitional kindergarten class as they sang, "Cast all your cares upon Him.  Lay all of your burdens down at His feet.  Anytime that I don't know what to do, I just cast all my cares upon Him."  Yes, sometimes He speaks audibly...even in the voice of a child.

Lord, my dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing me to lay my burdens at your feet, for knowing that you care about everything that concerns me.  I yield control to you.  I trust you.  I love you.