I did three things, one thing I always do, one thing I sometimes do and one thing I've never done and all three took me to the same place. I had to do them all because my existing path was exhausting. I was tired and needed to let all of that go. I had to surrender.
For me surrendering has always been equated with defeat. As a fight to the death type, defeat is simply not an option. As such the first part of the surrender was a shift in thinking. Understanding at last that surrender is release, not defeat. There was no need to be concerned about how it looked. No need to be concerned with the pursuit of perfection and no need to be concerned about "winning" the battle. I could now consider something else. Something that as late has been elusive.
In my ear I heard that the place that I was residing in, with my back against the wall was not the place I was destined to remain in. In fact in order for me to leave that place I had to surrender that space. Though tight and uncomfortable it was familiar. Surrendering that place became an entry into freedom.
What does freedom look like? The first step into it reveals a plain, a plain that is wide open, the polar of opposite of the forest from which I came. Freedom looks like clarity. There are no things hidden from view, nothing under rock, nothing camouflaged in the brush or in a tree. Freedom looks like sunshine, and smooth terrain. There is no shadiness nor darkness. Yet the brightness of the sun is not overwhelming, it is indeed welcoming. Two Biblical scriptures come to mind in reference to the sun or more generally light and darkness.
"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." (I Peter 2:9)
and
"If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth." (I John 1:6) <both NIV>
In order to experience freedom, fighting as we have in the past my not be the best course of action. In order to live in truth and in freedom, can we not first consider surrender?
Is there something that you need to surrender in order to live in freedom?
<photo from Bioneural.net>
