Every one of us has disappointments and setbacks.
Things that harm us or hold us back. And things we just don’t understand.
You were doing everything right. But somebody ran a red light. And now your car’s totaled.
Your employer didn’t make it through the shutdown. And now you’re out of a job.
You worked hard to save the relationship. But things didn’t work out.
How it happens to us doesn’t really matter. Because all of it hurts us just the same.
When those things happen to us, we’ve got a choice.
We can hold onto it. Or we can drop it.
If we hold onto it, dwell on it, think about it. Wonder why it happened. Wonder what we did to deserve that. Replay it over and over.
It won’t be long before we start assigning blame. Whether we blame others, or ourselves, or God, or all of the above, doesn’t really matter.
Because when get to the point where we’re assigning blame, we’ve handed over control of our lives to whoever or whatever hurt us. We’re putting that in charge.
And setting ourselves up to let whatever or whoever hurt us do it again. And again.
This is what Jesus is pushing back against in today’s Gospel. With His unconventional responses to violence and abuse of power. To break the cycle of holding on to what hurts us. To set us up to drop it.
To be clear, dropping it isn’t about never thinking about something again. Which is good. Because I don’t know anyone who can actually do that.
Try telling yourself not to think of something and see if you can beat my record (I’m good for 30 seconds).
Dropping it is an act of faith. Dropping it is letting go of something or someone that hurt you. So that you can hold onto the One who has always loved you.
When you drop it, you’re saying, “God, I trust you. I don’t understand it. It’s not right. It still hurts. But I’m not going to let it get between you and me. I’m going to hold onto you, God.”
No matter how bad you’ve been hurt, dropping it is the first step on the road to healing, on the road to peace.
dededos
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