Letting Go Lent Meditation by Faye Melton

During my life, I have let go of many people, places, positions, and things. Sometimes, I happily released a house, a job, or a friendship that no longer worked for me. Usually, however, I clenched my current circumstances tightly until forced to let go. For example, I reluctantly left my hometown church and friends to move to Columbus. Once we lived here, however, I realized what blessings our relocation brought.

More recently, I released the church tradition I embraced fully from an early age. Over the years, I had begun to question some of that theology, but my heart still held firmly to familiar practices. Through studying the Bible, reading respected spiritual thinkers, talking with wise mentors, and praying, I was able gradually to release my tight grasp so that I could embrace the Episcopal tradition as lived out at St. Thomas. What a blessing that has been!

Jesus taught his disciples that new wine needs new wineskins. Grape juice, stored in goatskins, expanded as it fermented, stretching out the skins. New wine placed in old, stretched-out wineskins would burst those skins as it expanded. Jesus brings a newness that cannot be confined within old forms. We must relinquish what is no longer useful in our lives to embrace better practices.

When we let go, we may lose something we believe precious, but only by letting go can we open space for new blessings from God. Think what we might miss by refusing to let go!

- Faye Melto