Everyone always tells me that I need to “let it go.” Yet, I have never received instruction on how to do so. I think it is because everyone else thinks this is a good idea, but have an equally hard time with it. I think the secret to letting things go, is to accept that nothing is permanent. I picked this up from a person named Michael Olajide Jr. He is like a celebrity training or something. Former boxing professional. One of those awesome trainers that kick your butt for lots of money.
Thinking through this concept in more depth, I realized that in order to get there mentally you have to accept that all things change. Change is the constant in the Universe. Noodle on that for a while! What if change was the only constant! If you think about the chaotic universe, both seen and unseen forces it does seem that way doesn’t it? Contemplating structures that have been round forever, like the Grand Canyon or Niagra Falls. They have been there a long time, always staying the same, but are they? Both of them when viewed over millennia are very chaotic and ever changing indeed.
Interesting. If there is a God, we like to say that God is unchanging and is the same. That helps us feel more comfortable. However, in God’s perspective, if I were to be so bold to presume, everything is a constant sea of ever changing dynamics! Perspective is what changes everything. Your child looks at the world through the prism of a very short life, you look at the world through a much longer life. Your parents, grandparents even longer still. Each generation realizes one factor more than the previous, how much change the younger group is in for!
I think I remember Jesus trying to explain to his disciples that all these things on earth are fleeting, rust, moths, or whatever will corrupt them. Everything will return to dust. These things, these present day stresses are only temporary. From God’s perspective they are trivial indeed. Kind of like our small child complaining that one of her siblings took her little piece of candy. We are like, what does that matter in the grand scheme of things? I will buy you 10,000 pieces of candy for 10 minutes of peace and quiet! So goes the universal perspective. So I imagine that the best and healthiest perspective is one that considered that change is the ever present, only realistic constant.
Once we accept that, then we can learn to value the moment even more. That time with your child is never going to happen again. Instead of pushing her off, annoyed about the candy dispute, perhaps you should embrace her and show her something even more wondrous and amazing! That is the type of thing we would do when we were under the influence of an eternal perspective. Perhaps this is at the core of God’s love? God knows that we are changing, ever-changing, quick to burn out in a flash. So every moment is beyond precious. Ha, some of you who doubt or do not believe in God are still caught by this dilemma. If there is no God, or universal force depending on your faith, then there is no life eternal. That means that your moments are also very precious! So believe in a supreme being or not, life is precious and every moment you have is sacred.
This is valuable perspective when considering all the challenges that we are facing. There is one thing that is absolutely certain – “this too shall pass.”
Guy Reams
