The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us.

~‭‭Psalm‬ ‭67‬:‭6‬ ESV

For most people, autumn is about cozy sweaters, pumpkin spice lattes, beautiful leaves, and campfires. However, it has always brought me mixed emotions. As I prayed about why fall evokes such a response, I found God leading me to the words “letting go.”

Fall is always about letting go. The trees bravely release their bowery and stand bare in cooling temperatures. All they worked to produce throughout the spring and summer lies beneath them, brittle and gone from their branches. Boldly and peacefully, they give up their green attire, and their efforts change into beautiful colors just before they let it all rest on the forest floor. The leafy fragrance is woody and rich. Isn’t it a reminder that life requires letting go in different seasons but also about what beauty comes in the process?

I once had to let go of specific dreams and hopes I tried to hold, but God asked me to open my grasp and trust Him with emptied hands. I felt stripped and barren, like the trees at the end of autumn. Every time God asked me to loosen my grasp on things I’ve worked so hard for or wanted so much, it felt costly. I know it’s silly to struggle with the release when God has shown He wildly loves me through every season of life.

When we empty our hands, we have a choice: grieve the loss or look forward to the hope of our hands being filled anew with what God provides in the next season. In these moments where God has asked me to let go and open my hands, I’ve watched all I’ve worked for be set loose and lifted from me in the wind of His Spirit. Yet I have never been left without. Even when God emptied my hands, He always refilled them with new life and provision. And in the waiting, God has given me rest.

Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

~‭‭Matthew‬ ‭11‬:‭28‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Rest and renewal come in the quiet stillness when we empty our hands and raise our arms, fully exposed before God. There is nothing like those moments with God where we recklessly abandon, spread our hands, and fully trust God.

Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!

~‭‭Psalm‬ ‭27‬:‭14‬ ‭ESV‬‬

God doesn’t mean that our lives will stay the same. They constantly change, grow, and reshape. We must yield to His good hands, not approach Him with rigid and clenched hands. God gives us beautiful examples in nature to remind us of how incredible every season can be.

In this season of letting go and laying down things, of yielding and standing open-handed before God, He fills me with hope and rest. He promises a coming spring when my hands will fill again with life made new. God is good in every season.

Think of some things you need to let go.

God, I trust You and open my hands. I’m not holding back. I want You to have everything. You know the secrets of my heart, the things I’ve whispered in prayer, and the things I’ve clenched tightly. Therefore, I trust You with whatever lies ahead. Your never-failing goodness through every season and the grace of Your leading are my peace. Thank you for helping me beautifully let go and rest in your plans. Amen.

 

Genre: Non-fiction

Copyright 2024: Letting Go: Kristi LaRee: All Rights Reserved