Day 3: Gratitude Challenge
Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure. By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try; the world is beyond the winning. Courage is the power to let go of the familiar. Creativity can be described as letting go of certainties. Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing monkey bars. You have to let go at some point in order to move forward. Hanging onto resentment is letting someone you despise live rent-free in your head. Inner peace can be reached only when we practice forgiveness. Forgiveness is letting go of the past, and is therefore the means for correcting our misperceptions. Why do you cling to pain? There is nothing you can do about the wrongs of yesterday. It is not yours to judge. Why hold on to the very thing which keeps you from hope and love? Loving someone is setting them free, letting them go. People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar. Some think it’s holding on that makes one strong; sometimes it’s letting go. Sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing. There is a time for silence. A time to let go and allow people to hurl themselves into their own destiny. And a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it’s all over. Stand up and walk out of your history. The harder you fight to hold on to specific assumptions, the more likely there’s gold in letting go of them. Think about any attachments that are depleting your emotional reserves. Consider letting them go. True Love doesn’t have a happy ending, because true love never ends. Letting go is one way of saying I love you. Truly loving another means letting go of all expectations. It means full acceptance, even celebration of another’s personhood. There are things that we never want to let go of, people we never want to leave behind. But keep in mind that letting go isn’t the end of the world, it’s the beginning of a new life. We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the life that is waiting for us. When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. You have been warned against letting the golden hours slip by. Yes, but some of them are golden only because we let them slip by. You never leave someone behind, you take a part of them with you and leave a part of yourself behind. When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us. We can never turn back the pages of time, though we may wish to relive a happy moment, or say goodbye just one last time, we never can, because the sands of time continue to fall, and we can’t turn the hourglass over. Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go. One problem with gazing too frequently into the past is that we may turn around to find the future has run out on us. All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on. In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit. Change is never easy, you fight to hold on, and you fight to let go. There’s no need to miss someone from your past. There’s a reason they didn’t make it to your present future. Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal. Every exit is an entry somewhere. We need in love to practice only this: letting each other go. For holding on comes easily~we do not need to learn it. Every breath is an opportunity to receive and let go. I receive love and I let go of pain. Sometimes you have to let go to see if there was anything worth holding on to. Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened. When you let go of what you are, you become what you might be. When you let go of what you have, you receive what you need. Have you ever struggled to find work or love, only to find them after you have given up? This is the paradox of letting go. Let go, in order to achieve. Letting go is God‘s law.
Question: “Why does God allow natural disasters, i.e. earthquakes, hurricanes, and tsunamis?”
Answer: Why does God allow earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, tsunamis, typhoons, cyclones, mudslides, and other natural disasters? Tragedies such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the 2008 cyclone in Myanmar, the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and the 2011 earthquake/tsunami near Japan cause many people to question God’s goodness. It is distressing that natural disasters are often termed “acts of God” while no “credit” is given to God for years, decades, or even centuries of peaceful weather. God created the whole universe and the laws of nature (Genesis 1:1). Most natural disasters are a result of these laws at work. Hurricanes, typhoons, and tornados are the results of divergent weather patterns colliding. Earthquakes are the result of the earth’s plate structure shifting. A tsunami is caused by an underwater earthquake.
The Bible proclaims that Jesus Christ holds all of nature together (Colossians 1:16-17). Could God prevent natural disasters? Absolutely! Does God sometimes influence the weather? Yes, as we see in Deuteronomy 11:17 and James 5:17. Numbers 16:30-34 shows us that God sometimes causes natural disasters as a judgment against sin. The book of Revelation describes many events which could definitely be described as natural disasters (Revelation chapters 6, 8, and 16). Is every natural disaster a punishment from God? Absolutely not.
In much the same way that God allows evil people to commit evil acts, God allows the earth to reflect the consequences sin has had on creation. Romans 8:19-21 tells us, “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” The fall of humanity into sin had effects on everything, including the world we inhabit. Everything in creation is subject to “frustration” and “decay.” Sin is the ultimate cause of natural disasters just as it is the cause of death, disease, and suffering.
We can understand why natural disasters occur. What we do not understand is why God allows them to occur. Why did God allow the tsunami to kill over 225,000 people in Asia? Why did God allow Hurricane Katrina to destroy the homes of thousands of people? For one thing, such events shake our confidence in this life and force us to think about eternity. Churches are usually filled after disasters as people realize how tenuous their lives really are and how life can be taken away in an instant. What we do know is this: God is good! Many amazing miracles occurred during the course of natural disasters that prevented even greater loss of life. Natural disasters cause millions of people to reevaluate their priorities in life. Hundreds of millions of dollars in aid is sent to help the people who are suffering. Christian ministries have the opportunity to help, minister, counsel, pray, and lead people to saving faith in Christ! God can, and does, bring great good out of terrible tragedies (Romans 8:28).
Recommended Resource: Wrestling with God: How Can I Love a God I’m Not Sure I Trust? by James Denison.
We do not walk alone through sorrow
God is always by our side.
This is true of every day even tomorrow.
I pray you gather the courage from the
Strength only He can provide.
Think of your passing loved one as a flower
Whose roots laid its foundation for all to see
And left behind a message of great power
Just think of them when you find a tall tree
And be encouraged by God’s great creed.
All life must come to an end
But God will never bend.
When our deepest sorrow comes to us
And someone we love is gone
May we be blessed with Strength and courage
To always carry on.
© 2011 by Jackie Paulson
