Hands Wide Open

Letting go – not because there is no choice (as I was wont to do in the past) but because it gives me joy and freedom to bless others with the same freedom with which I am loved. That is the freedom that God gives me every day…

The freedom to make mistakes, to repent, to start again, to fall again, to grow wise…. The freedom to love, really love him – not because he’s God, but because in my daily falling and rising I come to know him and love him as I let his love for me transform me.

There is the freedom of knowing that the ones I love will suffer, will take the wrong paths, make the wrong choices, and yet I will be able to rest in peace and confidence even when they do not heed counsel and choose the unnecessarily harder path for themselves.

Where would I gain that deep confidence from? From my own life of course – from my lived experience of being the prodigally loved child, and from growing up in my Father’s love. Sooner or later I will (if I so desire) grow into the mature and also prodigally loving daughter, sharing in my Father’s extravagant love for all my sisters and brothers.

Yes, I must allow myself to be extravagantly loved. I must run and jump and explore my boundaries in the deep confidence that my Father watches over me with infinite mercy and love and is ready to help me up after a fall. Yes… he won’t always catch me when I fall. Why would he? I need to know the consequences of my testing of boundaries in order to grow wise, and to become my own person. He will always love me with hands wide open.

In time, my Father and I will have a deep shared knowledge of who I am and what I am capable of. In the meantime, I know that he is enjoying every moment of my growing up process. And you know what? I shall enjoy it too!