Turning loose

"Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize."- Philippians 3:13, 14

Turning loose is never easy! We love the familiar, the warm and comfortable and the known. The leap into the dark unknown, the uncertainty of what’s out there which you can’t see and can’t comprehend, makes the future seem dark, foreboding, and fearful. The budding high-wire artist has to overcome his fear of failure, of falling, of danger; otherwise, he never makes it across the wire. Picture the trapeze artist, poised and ready to take the big leap. He swings out into space faster and faster, but then at some point, he’s got to turn loose and fly through the air, reaching and stretching, toward the bar that swings towards him.

Turning loose is never easy! We sometimes feel rejection when our loved ones do turn loose and move on. Picture the mother taking the hand of her little child to school for the first day. She knows her child must go to school, but when the youngster sees other children in the playground and gladly runs to them laughing, the mother turns away feeling depressed and dejected. She loves the feel of that warm little hand reaching towards her strong one.

My eyes misted when we saw our first-born daughter off to college. Yes, we were delighted she had been accepted in the school of her choice, was going on a scholarship and had graduated valedictorian of her high school class, but when she walked down the ramp to the plane she was about to board, it seemed that we had crossed a bridge that I didn’t like.

Turning loose is never easy! For many, the difficult time to turn loose is when your daughter walks down the aisle by your side for the last time, with eyes glistening, focused on a young man who has stolen her heart. You say you have gained a son, but you honestly feel like you have lost your daughter. The reality is that many parents never turn loose, thereby handicapping their newly married son or daughter. Remember, God’s plan is to leave father and mother and to be joined to a husband or wife in such a way that the two become one.

Turning loose is never easy! One of the most difficult challenges I’ve witnessed of turning loose was when a husband of fifty years looked longingly at his wife and had to say good-bye until he would join her on heaven’s shore. When a ship sails towards the horizon and you are standing on shore watching, slowly the mast becomes shorter and shorter and finally disappears on the horizon. "There she goes," you nostalgically say. But the person looking at the approaching ship from the other direction beyond the horizon, says, "Here she comes!" That’s why when it comes to losing someone you love–someone who has been anchored to Jesus Christ–you never have to say, "We lost her." Rather you can be assured that your loss has become heaven’s gain.

Turning loose is never easy! When Paul wrote to the Philippians, he said that he sought "to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold" of him. In other words, he believed God had a purpose for his life, a will in all the difficulties and challenges he faced. Then he said, "Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13,14). Turning loose is never easy, but go on, it’s got to be done. - Resource reading: Philippians 3:12-21

* * *

Guidelines for Finding Your Way is available in bookstores nationwide. For more information, write to Guidelines Philippines, Box 4000, 1284 Makati City or e-mail [email protected]. Visit our website www.guidelines.org.