Fall -- For What it IS, A Time to Let Go

Fall, for me, is (and has been in the past) filled with opportunities to sharpen my skills of letting go.

And honestly, I am still sorely lacking in achieving greatness in this department.

Just as the trees shed and drop all their leaves -- their excess, -- I have had to let go of meaningful things/people in the season of fall.

This fall has been a time of "letting go" in a sense of my my oldest son as he entered kindergarten.  He has begun his carrier as a school boy.  Hard but good.

Another "letting go" this fall was of 2 different Bible studies that I had hoped would be a part of this school year.  Again, hard but good.

Two years ago, in the fall, I faced a "letting go" that was incredibly and indescribably painful.

Letting go of the baby we thought we were going to be able to have and hold in this lifetime.  This is one that I am still very much actively working on letting go of.  A painful letting go at the deepest level, rooted and existing at my very heart of hearts.

And speaking of letting go, my middle child often reminds me of what it actually, tangibly, looks like.  P may look like his Daddy, but MAN, is he JUST like me in so many ways!

When he finds a bug or a frog, for example, he gets really attached to it.  A fierce bond has been formed.  The two of them might as well be BFF's according to him.

Letting go is often a very painful process for him.  He will close his little hand tightly around his new buggy friend and talk about keeping it "forever".  I can't tell you just how many times we've had the EXACT same conversation about letting go!

But there's a moment when he finally chooses to open his hand, palm up, in complete surrender to his little friend, thus allowing the precious creature to be free and take flight (or hop again as the case may be).  At this moment he captures the concept that this letting go, once again, is for the best.

Hard but good.

I LOVE the story from a history lesson of the early explorer, Cortez, when he reached Mexico.

He saw the deep and intense longing of his crew to turn around and go back home, back to the place that may have been easier.  To help them move forward he actually burned the ships.

THAT is letting go!

THAT is moving on!

This fall, I am longing to do the same.

Let go and move on.