At Last

There are alternative ways to live.  Really.  We can choose to step outside of ourselves and see the behaviors and desires and habits that fill space in our lives, but do nothing for us or for the world.  If you are primarily angry, you can let go of it.  Anger is not a personality trait.  No one is born with anger.  You can let it go.

You are not a thief.  Really.  You are a person who has convinced him or herself that there is nothing else out there but what you take.  You've locked yourself into believing you are stuck in a depraved place and it can be no worse... so you take and take and take, never considering that you might be stealing to fill that empty place that some how only manages to fill with thick, sticky pain.  You can let it go.

You are not mean as a snake, at least your essence is not mean.  You've behaved as if you are not happy unless everyone else isn't, and you've decided that it is your role to get everyone told.  You slay folk daily with your mouth and take great pride in the fact that you are the best at what you do.  Often you notice that meanness carves a lonely place, and now you feel stuck in the habit of being so volatile.  And, while you are fixing everyone else, you haven't spent one iota on getting your life right.  That's alright.  Let it go!  Even if you are awkward in approaching your relationships at first in a new way, you can give yourself permission to be who you really are.

This is my mantra: I can let it go.   Sadness is not my uniform.  Depression is not my hairdo, nor my favorite shoes.   I don't have to allow reflex or inertia form how things are in my life.  I certainly will never assume the way things are are the way they will always be. 

I sing "At Last" by Etta James not to announce a new relationship, but for all of us that realize it isn't about singleness, or togetherness; it's not about having much or nothing at all; not even about our failures or our successes.  If it has been about all the things that hang on you, but not about your spirit or your heart, let it go!  It's not about all those things we rehearse and wish for, but won't stick to us as we wish or crave. Today, I can happily say that I am letting go!  

At last, I am that I am, and that is abundantly more than enough.  I'm free.

Reconciling Act:  Make a decision today to love yourself and others better. At last, you can be authentic.  Treat people with kindness, and walk humbly with a gracious God.