On 'holding On' And 'letting Go'

            As I march through the days, I will often try to find meaningful lessons in the little things of life. I was trimming the thorn bushes around my house a few weeks ago (one of my favorite jobs), and a lesson quickly impressed itself upon me. 

            The gloves I wore were too thin to keep the thorns from penetrating to my fingers, so I quickly adapted my technique of gathering the trimmings.  I found that if I held them too loosely, many would drop to the ground and I would have to re-gather them into a manageable pile.  If I held them too tightly, they would puncture the gloves, causing me considerable discomfort.

            I realized that this lesson is very similar to raising children in a Christian home.  Children, as they grow and blossom into adulthood, are as delicate as flowers despite what they might lead us to believe.  If we hold them too tightly, it will stifle their human desire to become autonomous adults capable of free will, thus causing considerable pain to them and us as parents.

            If we hold them too loosely, they will fall through our fingers, causing us to have to come back later on and gather up the scattered lessons that should have been taught the first time around.

            The same holds true for our spirituality.  If we stifle our spirituality by holding on to tunnel vision beliefs picked up in a vacuum of the teachings of the Church, we will quickly find ourselves in the midst of spiritual brambles from which it will become increasingly difficult to extract ourselves.  Likewise, if we hold our spirituality too loosely, we open ourselves to many false doctrines that walk the earth.

            So, lessons learned from this little Saturday morning excursion in the front yard?  We should hold our young close to us, modeling true Christian beliefs and values, while giving them the room they need to grow into healthy and happy adults.  We also should take the time to constantly compare our faith beliefs against those teachings of the Church that have been handed down to us.

            Jesus Christ did not abandon the laws of Moses for He knew that many of the laws handed down from generation to generation were necessary for a people to survive in a world that often lived – and still lives – contrary to will of God.

            He did, however, wish to impress upon us the importance of gathering the Spirit of God into our lives so as to give life to the faith that we live.  We do not live in a Church that imposes rules upon us to constrict our lives. We live in a Church that guides us through the moral maze that often becomes confusing and overbearing.

            My brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, hold on dearly to the many gifts that have been bestowed upon you – and be prepared to let them go when the time is right.