Let Go!

Elisha had taken over as the prophet of the land and the miracles he did were becoming well known. In the neighboring country of Aram, a commander of the army named Naaman had leprosy. Through the advice of a very wise little girl, he was given the advice to go and see this prophet Elisha to be healed.

Loaded down with 750 pounds of silver and a 150 pounds of gold, Naaman headed out to find Elisha. Upon locating his home, he let the servant know just why he had come. Gehazi passed on the request for healing to his master. “Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan River. Then your skin will be restored, and you will be healed of your leprosy” was Elisha reply (2 Kings 5:10 NLT). Naaman was ticked. “I thought he would certainly come out here to meet me! I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and call on the name of the Lord his God and heal me!”

There is a very loaded word in the middle of that sentence: expected. Last week I heard this saying, “Expectation is pre-determined disappointment”. Think of when was the last time you were disappointed. Did you ahead of time have an idea of how things were suppose to go but didn’t? Did a child forget you on Mother’s Day? Did your husband work all night in the garage instead of taking you out to dinner?

My “suppose” to is with my kids. Having homeschooled for seven years, I grew very accustomed to lots of quality time with them. Over the past few years, I have had to learn to adjust to the change of having my kids in public school. But now, the biggest change of all is setting in. In a few short days, my son will turn 18. I have found myself over the last month feeling very disappointed. Why? Because this isn’t how I expected it to go. I expected that the true letting go would happen when he got married or left for college. But that is not how it is going. The letting go is happening now and like Naaman, I don’t like it. Why couldn’t we just continue the way things were going until he left for college after his senior year? Why don’t things stay the same as long as they can?

In my lamenting, I felt the answer “because”. No real explanation, just His answer of “because”. So, I can either accept it or try to fight it. I could demand that my son be home each night at 6:00 p.m. for dinner. Demand that he spend a certain amount of time with our family. Demand, demand, demand. Instead, I hear the Father say to me, “Demanding will breed rebellion. Is that what you want? It is time to let go.”

So, Lord, help me to continue to be like Naaman. After he had his fit, he got in the water. Today, help me to let go. Let go in a way that my son can see is real and rely on You to do what You know is best for my him.

Lynn