There is a place of peace in a heart that has released its hold on the things of this world. Snapshots of weddings to be, funerals to attend, and goodbye's that will be said are liberated in the promise of placing our trust in Jesus.
This decision to trust might come quickly for some of you; meanwhile it might take others years to understand the futility of holding on to an old coin or other worldly treasure. This resistance to trust is like a clenched fist with white knuckles you stubbornly refuse to open. This image of tension, greediness and a desire to remain safe is not the life Christ calls us to live. This life will quickly betray us as fear.
Henri Nouwen tells a story about an elderly woman brought to a psychiatric center…she was wild, swinging at everything in sight, and frightening everyone so much that the doctors had to take everything away from her. But there was one small coin which she gripped in her fist and would not give up. In fact, it took two people to pry open that clenched hand. It was as though she would lose her very self along with the coin. If they deprived her of that last possession, she would have nothing more and be nothing more.
I am learning daily to release my coins…emancipation of all my hopes, dreams, fears, and regrets.
'But we never can prove the delights of His love until all on the altar we lay;
For the favor He shows, for the joy He bestows, are for them who will trust and obey.'
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