Let it go.
Three little words, yet so powerful. Not always easy to do.
Some people have a really hard time letting things go.
Hurts.
Offenses.
Unforgiveness.
Material possessions.
The past.
They carry these things around their entire lives, crushed under their weight, like Sisyphus in Greek Mythology, who was punished for deceitfulness and pride by being condemned to spend eternity rolling a boulder up a hill.
Each time he succeeded in rolling the heavy boulder near the summit, it’d roll back down and he’d have to repeat his task all over again…an act that has no useful purpose.
Rick Garlikov writes in The Value of Labor and The Myth of Sisyphus:
As a metaphor for frustrating and futile labor, the point of this being a punishment for Sisyphus is that it is an eternal waste of time and energy. That it is repetitive makes it frustrating because it is the repetition of something boring and useless… His work, his success, his effort is all in vain because the task is worthless.
Not all work is noble… To spend time doing something of absolutely no value is to waste your time and that part of your life.
Of course, sometimes we need to do less worthwhile acts in order to be able to do other more worthwhile acts.
Eating, sleeping, vacationing or taking breaks may be unproductive and not particularly gratifying in themselves (for some people) but may be necessary in order for one to have the energy and focus to do what is worthwhile and satisfying.
Sometimes we have to work at less productive work in order to be able to have the resources, such as financial resources, to do more worthwhile things. That is a sad and inefficiently wasteful situation, but a bearable one. However, Sisyphus does not even have that luxury. He always and only pushes the rock up the hill…Pushing the rock is all he does and all he gets to do. It is his only act. And it has absolutely no intrinsic or extrinsic value for him. It is a totally useless and meaningless act, and it is all he gets to do. That is why this punishment is so terrible.”
Not letting things go is a waste of time and energy.
You have to let the past go in order to make room for God’s new and abundant blessings.
Let it go.
“Forget about what’s happened;
don’t keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.
It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?
There it is! I’m making a road through the desert,
rivers in the badlands.” – Isaiah 43: 18-21, The Message
Listen to the song “Let it go” from the Disney cartoon movie, Frozen, in the video below.
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