Sunday, May 5, 2013

Boulders and Balloons



Every night before I fall asleep, I imagine I am holding a large bunch of helium balloons in the middle of a hay field.  I write each of my worries and concerns on a balloon, and then one by one I release them into the sky.  Watching them float away, I am left free.


Most of us have had days where we want nothing more than to be able to let go.  We find ourselves standing in a field holding all the things we’re afraid of, all our expectations, all the things we regret, all the things we wish we could change about ourselves…yet more often than not, we wake up to find that our worries and troubles are more like rocks than helium balloons.  We get frustrated that we’re unable to send them away into the sky, so instead we try to push and shove them as far away as we can, or we throw them at the people who we believe threw them at us.  We try to get rid of them, wasting time wishing that boulders were balloons, that we never learn to sit with them, accept them, and turn them over in our hands until we see them for what they are.  We don’t like how these rocks can weigh us down, crack us open, carve us out and leave us exposed.   Yet God again reminds us that’s it’s ok to be vulnerable in the middle of a hay field.  It’s ok to hold heavy hands and be still.   With our cracks we are not broken but rather open to recieve the light and love of others.  This is how we begin to be free.

We get thrown rocks. We dig them up.  We yell and throw them back.  But all the while, maybe God was handing us some of the stones we needed to build our trail.






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