Sunday's Sermon - Letting Go...

No matter how beautiful a thing may still seem,
it it brings more hurt than happiness -
It's time to let it go.

LETTING GO....some people think it's the same as giving up. I don't. I consider it more like moving on to something else from something that no longer works or brings pain, distress and frustration.
Maybe I am wrong and they are one in the same. Well, if they are or aren't, today I am inclined to say that sometimes you have to let go - move on - give up - throw in the towel.

You have been struggling with a man that is hitting you time and time again. you say he is going through some issues and he will get better, but for years now, he seems to be getting worse. Let him go.

You are trying to do everything you can for a child who won't come off cocaine. You give them food, shelter, clothing, money. take them to and from rehab. Seek employment for them, stay patient with them, but they continue to spiral like Alice down the rabbit hole. Let them spiral - alone.


You may think I have no clue what I am talking about today. How can I advise a woman to walk away from a man that may be the love of her life or her only source of income? How can I ask someone to turn away from their child in trouble?
Ever heard of tough love? Sometimes people need it. Sometimes the drug addicted child needs to stop being fed and lead further into dependency, sometimes the abusive man/husband needs to have his punching bag taken away. Sometimes we, the ones that keep holding on to these people, need to put some tough love on OURSELVES and WALK AWAY from the chains that are keeping us bound in order to live at our full potential.

I do not speak these words idly. I speak them based on experiences of my own and from the experiences of families that have walked in and out the doors of my father's homeless shelters and rehab programs. I have witnessed as well as lived in denial for many years about many things.
Perhaps you have opened a business, taken on a mortgage or loan and you are struggling - in above your head and the stress is too much too bear. Still you are holding on because you don't want to look like a failure to your friends, family, neighbors, you don't want to feel like a failure and have to look yourself in the mirror everyday knowing that you did not succeed in whatever it was you set out to do.
I am here to tell you today - LET IT GO!
Stop holding on, STOP beating yourself into the ground. Create a Plan B, a Plan C, a plan D if you have to and move it along. Take your loses, chuck up your deuces and go. 

If that man is hurting you again and again...let him go.

For some people letting go will be liberating. There will be a sense of freedom and relief that floods through you the likes of which you have never felt. Your eyes may be opened up to a new world of possibilities and you may wonder why you never let go of your burden sooner.
For others it will be the hardest thing you have ever had to do. You will feel as though you dropped the weight you were carrying on your head and the pressure wants to crush your skull and kill you. You will ask yourself if you have lost your mind and day and night perhaps ask yourself if you have done the right thing. But in the back of your mind there will always be that echoing YES! Time is indeed a healer of all things, and for you to ever be healed you need to be away from the situation hurting you.

Drugs of alcohol destroying your family? Thinking? Way of life?
Don't be afraid to get help letting go if you cannot handle it alone.

If it's the bottle that keeps you running back spending your hard earned money day after day or weekend after weekend, LET IT GO. 
If it is negative and disruptive friends with whom you no longer fit in and no longer feel comfortable with or accepted by, LET THEM GO.
 If it is drugs destroying your way of thinking, your way of life or caused you to loose family, work and friends, LET IT GO.
If a relationship has you torn - you are with a married man that won't leave his wife. LET IT GO. You are with a woman who you know only wants you for financial aide, LET IT GO. If you are waiting for a man or woman who is involved with someone else to love you and you are constantly hurting and obsessing over why you are not good enough for them to want you  - LET IT GO!
DO YOU HEAR ME??

Sometimes it takes much hurt and much grief for us to get to the level where we are so frustrated that we choose to move on. But often when we reach that level our spirits are so broken and damaged it is hard for us to rebuild our lives without painful shards still stuck to us. These sharp edges end up hurting those around us who really care and pushing them away.
TAKE STEPS today to let your heartache go. You may not be able to all at once, but just like moving house, begin to pack your things little by little. Don't be afraid to get help letting go if you cannot do it alone.

Give yourself some tough love. Don't keep trying to fix a broken record player. Go out and get an ipod. Change is inevitable and it comes harder for those who keep holding on to the past. If what was is gone. LET IT GO - and move on. 

May You be Inspired Today Readers!


PS - Anyone reading this post and thinks they need help with a situation, or a recommendation to a pastor or counselor -  Please do not be afraid to email me at cocoabisou@gmail.com