Letting Go in Order to Grow

Movement.  Any journey is about movement.  A spiritual journey is no different.  I'm taking a few weeks to look over my journey so far, to sort through and recognize the progress I've made and the areas where I've resisted.  What I've learned recently is that it's okay to treasure the people and tools that have served me and my journey well, that have accompanied me on this early part of my journey.  It's okay as long as I don't allow that emotion to keep me from moving forward, possibly letting go of the intensity of a connection so that I can experience or encounter another, even see another connection.

I think of my most favorite teacher in elementary school.  It was 4th grade.  I really didn't want to move on to 5th grade and leave her behind, but I had to.  I saw, eventually, that I wasn't actually leaving her behind -- I still got to see her -- I just had moved on up to new experiences and new ways of encountering life, and new teachers.  The great thing that I finally realized (in about 6th grade) was that it was this favorite teacher that had prepared me to experience new things and to be willing to encounter life in new and different ways.

Learning to see and love all that God has provided me as guidance and fuel for my journey is, in fact, part of the journey.   A great by-product of this is the fact that I'm learning more about myself intellectually and emotionally, not just spiritually because, in reality, they are all of a piece.  A piece that's me.