Lingerdog's World

Tonight Pastor Matt was talking about holding on to sin and there was this idea, How do you ever get rid of sin when you are holding onto it with both hands.

I got to thinking, sin isn't the only thing we hold on to in life while trying to overcome that very thing.

For some it's a hurt, a broken heart, a former significant other, a slight, a good time in your life.

We can get so caught up in holding on to that part of the past that we stop moving forward, stop healing, stop becoming who we are meant to be.

We miss out on friendships, fellowship, happiness and just good things in our life because we are focused on that thing. We are holding on to it because how dare it hurt you like that. How dare you break my heart. How dare you leave me.

We can't move beyond that moment into acceptance of what happened. We are still living in that moment.

I think especially when we are hurt we just want someone to recognize that, to tell us, "I've been there too, I feel your pain."

So we lash out at the unfairness of it. Why should I accept what happened because it was so unfair.

But we miss out on so much. It took me a while to get this, I can look back and see when I did it, but I don't think I really got it until now, how much stuff I missed because even when I said I wasn't, I was still living in that moment rather than accepting that it happened and healing.

See that's what you get to do when you accept it, you get to heal. When you can't accept it the band aid keeps getting ripped off anew. You hold friends accountable for something they didn't do because you haven't allowed yourself to heal.

Acceptance doesn't mean that you are insignificant, or that what happened wasn't wrong, it just means you have decided that that moment will no longer rule your life. You can make decisions free of the burden of the past, without fear.

You can live a fearless life. You can accept your past and accept that the future is now yours.

You can live your life.