I remember dreaming and anticipating those rare middle school dances …
Girls on one side of the room, guys on the other.
MUCH too much make-up.
Not enough deodorant worn by many.
Too much cologne worn by many more.
Couples dancing with barely any part of their bodies touching, or so close there was no room for the Holy Spirit, let alone Jesus (a little Christian dating humour … not humour that my kids would find funny, but humour that is funny in my imagination).
And I remember the song, by Straight Lines, (the hardest part of love is) “Letting Go”.
Recently, I was reminded of it when at a Christian Conference Centre, listening to Charles Price speak on the story of Abraham and Isaac. This is my personal favourite story from the Bible, and one that I have written about in a 3-part blog series:
https://itsawonderfilledlife.net/2015/03/24/gods-test-abraham-father-of-isaac/
Years before Abraham took his son on a hike up the mountain to make a sacrifice that Abraham didn’t want to make, God had made a promise to Abraham that he would one day be the father of many nations (Genesis 17).
Why would God ask Abraham to sacrifice the son who was the premier star in his sky? And why would Abraham actually follow through with God’s instructions?
God had promised that Abraham would be the father of multitudes, but Abraham had to let go of his human understanding of how that would happen, in order to trust that God would keep his promise, and that Isaac would not simply be a falling star.
Remember, Abraham had learned this lesson, the hard way. When God had taken his good ‘ol time in fulfilling his promise, Sarah and Abe took matters into their own hands and utilized Haggar to begin Abraham’s nation. This had not turned out so well, for anyone involved. And this is often what happens when we attempt to fulfill a God-sized promise with human-sized perspective.
When we believe that God has made a promise to us, we begin to dream of how that promise might be fulfilled. But, we need to let go of our dream, releasing it back to the one who has hung the stars in the sky. For it is through him that our dreams are born, and it is through him that our dreams come true.
The hardest part of love is letting go … but what we get back, in return, could fill the night sky with the brightest lights.
itsawonderfilledlife 