Holding on

A friend of mine passed this comment lately-‘Don’t waste your time on something you will never use.’ I’m not sure if this applies to everyone in every situation- one of the reason we take so many subjects at school is to help us identify those we will excel at and will hopefully help clarify the path we are to take. Nevertheless, it got me thinking about the things I waste time on (as opposed to some people who just seemed out to waste my time, like slow till operators).

The recent episode with my gran, she is now out of hospital, has really shaken me and got me pondering over questions like-‘how do we know when one season is over and another begins’, ‘what am holding onto that is holding me back’. As gran’s memories fade, the ones that remain the most are those rooted in bitterness- either at a real or perceived hurt from someone. The vehemence and clarity of such painful moments shows that she has not let go many of these issues and instead holds on to the negative emotions. It is easy for me to point fingers, but how big are the logs in my own eyes? What areas do I need to deal with? It has been a thought provoking time.

One of the other questions with letting go is; how do you know when you are meant to hold onto something or to let it go? When is what you holding onto actually keeping you afloat or pulling you down? What do you think? The person holding onto the lift raft can only grasp the rope ladder from the rescue chopper if he lets the raft go.

Have been studying the life of Israel’s King David recently. The one thing that has struck me is that often he had good ideas, and other times he had God ideas. Conducting a census of the people may have been a great idea, but it wasn’t God’s idea and David paid the price for his disobedience. Building a temple was an idea inspired by God, he checked with Nathan the prophet and was told that although God wanted a temple built, he would not be the one to build it. Rather he was to prepare a way for his son to do so. However, because of his obedience, God would establish David’s house forever- a prophecy finally fulfilled in the Messiah. It was when David conferred with God that he had the most success, and when he didn’t that he fell the hardest.