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- A Thousand Steps of Devotion, and A Thousand Letting-Goes
We’ve been exploring the soul work of letting go this month:
But letting go is never easy, is it?
To let go of something, or someone, involves a relinquishing of control, security, certainty, and an understanding of how things should be.
The very foundation of letting go requires deep faith and trust.
We see this time and time again in Scripture.
Abraham letting go of the only home he had ever known
Moses letting go of power and privilege
Ruth letting go of relational comfort and familiarity
Esther letting go of position and prestige
Richard Rohr describes this spiritual journey as a matter of letting go so as to receive what is being given freely. “It is the gradual emptying of our attachment to our small self so that there is room for a new conception and a new birth.” [1]
But to make room for what’s new is hard; it’s stretching, humbling, and filled with much insecurity and uncertainty to the human ego:
To do what has never been done
To go where we’ve never been
To look foolish in the eyes of everyone else
To rely on faith provision more than our own resources
It’s a journey of a thousand steps of devotion and a thousand letting-goes.
Or as author Maggie Ross describes it:
“Here, in our wanderings, we are called to make each place, like Little Gidding, a place where prayer can be valid, and then to let it go. To make each step, each moment, a holocaust of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving, and then let it go. And this letting go is itself the heart of prayer: the cry of the heart that has emptied itself of everything that is most precious to it—even its own idea of itself—so that it may be filled with the fire of the living God.” [2]
As you explore the prompts in today’s intermission, I invite you to spend a few moments reflecting on the following question:
What step of devotion and what act of letting go are you currently being invited into at this stage of your journey?
—With Joy
Spiritual Director
Co-Founder & Content Director
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Pause for Thought
“The future is always unknown, but in these latter days there are no longer even any inklings of what will be asked of us, whether city-dweller or woodland hermit. One thing only is sure: that we will be asked to accept, thank, offer and repent in the midst of constant flux.” [3]
Pause for Practice
The following story about Abram may be familiar to you, or perhaps it’s been a while since you’ve read it. Regardless, sit with the ancient text below slowly and sacredly, meditating on every word, and allow your mind to imaginatively place yourself in the scene. Invite The Holy into this time and space of practice. Notice what surfaces, what lingers, and pray about what God’s presence might be revealing.
Now Yahweh said to Abram, “Leave your country, and your relatives, and your father’s house, and go to the land I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who treats you with contempt. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”
So Abram went, as Yahweh had told him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram took Sarai, his wife, Lot, his brother’s son, all their possessions they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they went to go into the land of Canaan. They entered into the land of Canaan. Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time, Canaanites were in the land.
Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.”
He built an altar there to Yahweh, who had appeared to him. He left from there to go to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to Yahweh and called on Yahweh’s name. [4]
Pause for Reflection
“Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”
[1] “Preparing for Christmas: Daily Meditations for Advent” by Richard Rohr, Back to Faith, р.29.
[2] “The Fire of Your Life: A Solitude Shared” by Maggie Ross (Paulist Press, 1983), p.92 in The Lion Christian Meditation Collection by Hannah Ward and Jennifer Wild, The Wilderness of Faith [6.55], p. 241.
[3] Ibid.
[4] The Call of Abram, Genesis 12:1-8, WEB.
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P.S. Like this guy, freedom is found in letting go of what we thought our lives would look like, so we can embrace and live out the life, story, and message God desires our lives to reflect. 🌸