How Tight is Your Grip?

 “Be still and know that I am God” – Psalm 46:10

The command “be still” comes from the Hebrew phrase rapha, which means let go of your grip.

Every Fall the trees teach us how beautiful it is to let go, to release the grip, to accept the beauty of what once held life. They show us how to take some time to look and smell and reflect and take it in. And then, they show us how to let dead things die.  Every year!

Why? Because this is something we might have to see and learn and relearn and do over and over throughout our lives.  Keeping a death grip on a dying organism will no more bring it back to life than 2022 has attempted to bring back the high waisted mom jeans of the 90s.

It’s human to be scared. And scared humans sometimes hold tightly to *what was* rather than accepting *what is* because that death grip can provide us with a false sense of security.

What dying things might you be clinging to?
What happens if you loosen the grip?
Can you still appreciate the beauty?
And accept the reality?

Pretty soon those beautiful fall leaves will crumble back into the earth. Continuing its process and being our guide. – Rev. Monica Rubino Reynolds

In Christ,
Rev. Elyse Milligan Nielsen