Summer is quickly fading. The time for fun, family and friends is drawing to a close. August signals an ending as school begins and poolside gatherings start to shut down. Busy routines return and we face a period of letting go of the easy, casual days of summer. Easy come, easy go! The lingering of daylight stretching from early morning to late night gradually retreats into shorter days. We face a time of endings and beginnings. We count on the seasons to appear in order each year – easy come, easy go.
As we stretch our days and fill them with one more swim party, picnic or family gathering, we learn that letting go is part of life. Beginnings and endings cycle through daily. The hard looks harder and the easy stays the same. Embracing an easy come,easy go attitude is not easy.But what if I reassured you the hard does get easier? Or that letting go is a gift and not a burden? Would you believe me?
Letting go is a lifelong journey infused into our everyday. It is God showing up daily to walk it out with us. It is a choice to invite God into the easy and hard days knowing He is the one who will always fill the space when letting go empties us of ourselves. Letting go is not just a process of saying “goodbye” but the start of many “hellos”.
My journey of learning about letting go – the good, bad and the ugly – continues to stretch me into new understanding. The lessons are blessings from God and also you, faithful readers. The last three weeks my focus stayed mostly on the hard pieces and loss of letting go. Today we will walk together into the promise that the hard gets easier.
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What I know for sure is that God challenges us in life, but does not desire for us to stay in the hard and messy. I am learning how God takes every season, each struggle and all the in between, to not only teach us, but show us that by focusing on Him, we will always reach the other side. What seems impossible today is possible tomorrow. The endless season of letting go turns into new beginnings. Life is not just a series of “goodbyes” but a discovery of “hellos” each time we let go and trust God with the outcome.
In my time away recently, I uncovered lessons of new beginnings or the gift of “hello”. God teaches me in every conversation, real life meetings and unexpected family time.
Letting go turns into letting God when….
I linger in the moment.
I embrace unexpected interruptions as beautiful gifts.
Being present is the most important thing rather than the next item on my list.
I see God’s hand in everything even the difficult times of letting go.
The next “hello” is my center and not the hard “goodbye”.
I allow “easy come, easy go” to drive me knowing God’s plan is the best plan.
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10 NLT
During the last few weeks, family, friend and God time, pointed me to a new perspective. Letting go continues to prove difficult, but a lot of love, lingering and letting go of my preconceived notions points me to where my eyes should have been looking the whole time – God!
I hope you enjoy these pictures of family, friends and beauty.
To catch up on the whole letting go series, click HERE!
Thank you as always for being here and blessing me with your wisdom, encouragement and faith.
Blessings of grace along the way!
Linking up with these beautiful ladies!
and Dawn for Grace Moments
These two really spoke to me, Mary:
I embrace unexpected interruptions as beautiful gifts.
Being present is the most important thing rather than the next item on my list.
Such a great series!
Thank you for your sweet encouragement. God is teaching me so much throughout this series, but is also pointing me to the wisdom of the friends who stop by like you. I love knowing God is speaking to you because I am definitely preaching to myself as I write these words on the page. Praying you have a blessed weekend.
Your “Letting Go” series has been a blessing. Your pictures are always lovely. And, a wedding NEXT month, right?
Thank you Susan! Yes there is a wedding next month-September 3rd! 🙂
Hey that’s my birthday!
What a great day! Thanks for stopping by! Sabbath blessings!
Great post, Mary, and love the pictures!
Not really up to giving a coherent response today, so may I let Linkin Park speak for me with their lovely song “Iridescent”?
Thank you Andrew! I appreciate you stopping by! I enjoyed the song. Thank you for taking the time to find that for me.
We, as empty-nesters, know this letting go most intimately, Mary. I so appreciate your perspective and am trying to let go to God, but it is difficult when it comes to my children. Just recently my youngest has been considering moving to California for more job opportunities. He’s only 20 and in my view way too young to be making this far-reaching move. I also went to see Fiddler on the Roof recently and when Tevya’s daughter wanted to leave to go to Siberia to be with her fiance, I so related! I feel like California might as well be Siberia! It’s so hard to let go and trust God when it comes to our adult children! It’s like my heart is walking around outside of my body–perhaps headed to California! My oh my! Prayers would be appreciated!
You have a e beautiful way of describing the feeling of watching our adult children fly the coop (sometimes farther away than we wish). It is like our heart is walking outside of our body. What I know that throughout this series, God has taken me through step by step this journey that I have been on for longer than the last six months. He knows my heart so well as He knows yours and loves nothing more than to show us it’s all going to be okay.
I am praying for you from one momma to another. I get it and I know we will both be okay.
I love the pictures, my beautiful friend! It looks like you’ve had an eventful and wonderful summer. Easy come, easy go is a mantra I desperately need in my life. I’m not good with letting go. I just grip too tightly to people, places, and things at times :). I’m taking this with me today: “What seems impossible today is possible tomorrow.” Such important encouragement and truth. Thank you, Mary!
I’m not sure I have this easy come, easy go thing down yet in my own life. But if we know God is on the other side of it, we have nothing to fear. I am holding onto the same truth as you-the impossible is possible with God as our guide.
I am thrilled to have you here walking this path with me! Love you friend!
This has been a day when I feel my weariness. It’s been a crazy-busy summer. If was to be honest, I’d say that I’m ready for school to begin again. Routines and a sometimes-quiet house are refreshing. 🙂 I’m letting go of my children’s “young-ness.” Giving them the freedom to grow into manhood, to make mistakes, and to make choices I’ll disagree with is harder than I anticipated. I’m seeing the necessity of letting go of them. Sigh.
I am sighing with you because even though I am a little ahead of you with my sons, I understand so well. Letting our kids experience the independence they want so desperately is a gift we give them. It is a hard one to let go of though isn’t it?
If you keep providing the foundation but extend the walls a little farther bit by bit, your sons will do fine. Prayer is so important in this process. I sure do love having you along in this journey. It means so much to me.
“What seems impossible today is possible tomorrow.” A beautiful encouragement to me as a plan for the fall…a new season and a new opportunity to let the Lord guide me in ever deepening ways. Your neighbor at #TellHisStory today 🙂
So glad to have you here Angela. Each new season is a chance to let go of the old and usher in the new. This goes for the physical seasons as well as the season we face as life changes come about. I pray we all may let God be our guide in the new knowing that HIs plan is always good. Blessings!
I love the thought of turning “letting go” into “letting God” and, instead of just focussing on what we have to let go of, turning our thoughts to the new beginnings God has for us, looking to the next “hello” rather than the “hard goodbye”. As you say, it’s all about keeping our eyes on him, whatever the circumstances.
I sure would be a lot more successful if I took my own advice. God continues to teach me through his series. He also shows me over and over that letting go is a very good thing rather than the hard thing that I think of first. May we look to God first in all knowing He will never mislead us. Blessings on your weekend.
Letting go turns into letting God – such truth, Mary. God has had me in a season of rest and healing for some time now. Why He certainly didn’t shelve me, He also didn’t urge me to move too fast or take on too much. In a sense, He gave me permission to just be His girl, more than His soldier.
But…lately, He’s been gently nudging me to get back in the game. And I’m learning to lean in, let go, and let Him have His way. It’s not easy or without fear, but it’s entirely with Him by my side and for that, I’m ever so grateful. Blessed by your words today, Mary. xo
Thank you Tiffany and thank you for sharing a bit of your own journey. Getting back in the game is where I am headed too. I imagine I will get there sooner if I let go and trust that God will take care of the “goodbyes” so I can embrace the “hellos” have has planned for me. It will be amazing to see where this journey takes both of us. Blessings to you as you wind your way through the rest of this week.
Thanks for sharing your piece of the world with us. Your journey is teaching me to trust that changing seasons bring on new experiences and transformation necessary to where God wants us to go next.
I am just so blessed to have this community walking through this with me. Letting go lets us embrace the “hellos” even as we are saying the hard “goodbyes”. Praying you are having a good week.
Letting go can be so hard. 🙁 But so essential. How can we ever have anything new if we don’t let go of the old? Thanks for encouraging us to release, Mary. This is SO true and a word I need to hear every day: “Being present is the most important thing rather than the next item on my list.”
I am learning that if I choose to hold onto those things that God has asked me to let go, I am missing all of the life right in front of me. That is not how I want to live. As hard as it is, letting go is part of life. God turns around and blesses us in the process of following through. I am also learning that truth. Whew! Life does to get easier does it??? Thank you for being here, from one mom to another and one who also shares the letting go of her children to marriage!
Mary, I needed this so much. Over the last six years I have let go of so much and so often I have made it harder than it really needed to be. These statements resonate:
Being present is the most important thing rather than the next item on my list.
I see God’s hand in everything even the difficult times of letting go.
The next “hello” is my center and not the hard “goodbye”.
I have been learning about you through your words and you have experienced many changes. We have a lot to look forward to in the next phase of our lives and God is always faithful to bring us to it. Thank you for affirming my words. It is a delight and blessing to have you here.
Letting go is part of life – so true! We are in a season of transition and its hard not to focus on the way I thought things were going to be instead of focusing on how we have been blessed and favored in this season. Good reminder!
It seems many of us are going through transitions. It’s not a bad thing but it can be hard. Seeing what we already have rather than focusing on the loss makes the time of waiting easier. Thank you for being here, Melissa!
Mary,
Amen to being present in the here and now rather than rushing on to the next thing on my to do list. My post this week kind of echoes what you are saying here. I guess it encourages me that I am never too old to keep learning. Joining you in focusing on the hellos vs. the goodbyes.
Blessings my friend,
Bev xo
What I am learning (and it is taking a long time might I add) is that if we hold onto to things we have no reason holding onto, we are not living the life we should be living right now. It’s a hard lesson but living purposely in the present brings so many rich rewards. I need to look to the future for myself just as my sons are doing in their own lives. I know God has many “hellos” planned for me even though all I can see right now are the “goodbyes”. Thank you for being here! Blessings!