Let go, let God

THANKFULLY, this is an expression that is gaining ground
on many people. I hear this more often these days among those who come
to me for some advice. When faced with certain problems and
difficulties that seem to be unsolvable despite their best efforts,
this is what they say.

            Let’s hope that this expression, which should be used with
the proper spirit, continues to be in the lips of more and more
people. We cannot deny that in life there are many things that are
beyond our understanding and human capabilities. We just have to
abandon ourselves in the hands of God who knows what to do with any
situation we can be in.

            This is the proper attitude to have. We need to have a
sense of acceptance and abandonment in the hands of God who in his
providence is actually directing everything to himself. And everything
means precisely that—everything, that includes our sins, our mistakes
and failures, our problems and difficulties, etc.

            Christ reassures us of God’s loving and merciful
providence when he said: “Do not worry about your life, what you will
eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more
than food and the body more than clothing?

            “Look at the birds in the sky. They do not sow or reap,
they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are not you more important than they?” (Mt 6,25-26)

            Of course, we are not mere birds that worry only about
food and shelter. We have far more complicated needs, especially in
our spiritual and moral lives which the birds and the animals do not
have.

            But precisely Christ is telling us that if our heavenly
Father would take care of birds that have simple needs that can easily
be done away with, would he not much more take care of us who have
more serious needs?

            In short, if God takes care of mere birds, would he not
take much more care of us who are more precious to him than birds are.
And this attitude of God to us can easily be seen in the fact that he
made us in his image and likeness, adopted us as his children, and
even if we committed sin, he continues to love and save us, even to
the point of becoming man, and assuming all our sins by offering his
life on the cross.

            We should never waver in our hope and full trust in God
and in his all-wise and merciful providence. Even if our unsolvable
predicaments are self-inflicted, we should just try our best to go
back to him as soon as we can, without any delay, because God
understands everything and is all too willing to forgive us.

            We may have to go through some suffering. But if we also
know how to suffer by uniting our suffering with that of Christ, then
everything would just be all right. We can manage to have some peace
and even joy in the midst of our unavoidable suffering.

            So, we just have to learn how to let go and to let God do
what we cannot do anymore. There’s always hope even in our worst
condition. If Christ can resurrect the dead, the worst condition that
we can find ourselves in, what else can he not do to save us?

            Even if we are rotten to the core in terms of our speech
and behavior, there is always hope. We just have to really learn how
to let go and to let God. We have to learn a certain spirit of
detachment of worldly things and concerns to allow God’s mercy to take
over.