Letting Go

In Anne Lamott's book "Grace (Eventually)" she recounts a story of teaching a Sunday School lesson to six-year olds on the meaning of "letting go". Her illustration struck me as a powerful and convicting metaphor.

"What does letting go mean?" I asked. The boys looked around at one another, worried as cats. "Let me show you," I said, and gripped two colored markers, one in each hand. "What if, when we go in for our snacks, someone offers me a juice box, and I won't let go of these pens, even though I am thirsty." I told them to watch, and you'd have thought I was doing a magic trick as I slowly unfurled my fingers and let the markers drop.

We all thought hard about this. "So why would you want to let go?" I asked.

One of the six-year olds answered, "Because you are thirsty?"

What "markers" am I clutching so tightly in my hands? I can certainly think of more than two, which makes my hands pretty full. And why do I continue to hold on to them when I am really in need of something else...something better?

"Markers" are not necessarily bad or sinful; they have a purpose and a time. However there are times when we need to let go of these things we are holding on to (good, bad or neutral) in order to get the nourishment that we need to mature. While it seems foolish to hold on to these things in our life when Someone is offering us what we need, I often find it hard to let go. I guess it might have something to do with not completely trusting that the "juice box" is going to quench my thirst, or that I can't have the "markers" and the "juice box" at the same time (the likely result being they would all fall on the floor in a mess).

This reminds me of the verse in Hebrews 12:1:
Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.