I sat in angst over the big decisions I needed to make. I felt like it was all I knew. I was so tired of sitting in the indecisive place. I sat down with my hot tea and my good friend who has already walked this season of life in a neighborhood coffee shop. I ranted for a good twenty minutes over not knowing what my next step was. I explained how scared I was to not know for certain what was going to happen. In front of my friend was her own soup and a plastic wrapped bag of saltine crackers. This woman is the kind of woman that when she speaks it is like poetry. I know each thing she says is weighted and strategically placed. I ask for her wisdom, and she picks up the saltine crackers and slides it over to me. The sound of the crinkle of the plastic in her fingers reminds me of the familiar. She looks up at me and says, “You know, I love saltine crackers. And if that was all I knew I could have to eat, I’d be so thankful. But sometimes God asks us to let go of the saltine crackers and turn around and see the gigantic feast He has instead for us.” My brain exploded.
This simple illustration has rocked my world the last seven weeks since we sat down and had this heart to heart. Everyday I feel there is something that I cling to that is no longer serving me or I am no longer serving it. What is your “saltine cracker?” It could be small things like your morning coffee with a fantastic sugary creamer in exchange for more energy and livelihood. Or it could be as big as a deeply spiritual letting go of the false self in exchange for a more authentic True Self.
My eyes have been open to this spiritual concept of letting go and surrendering over and over. Another friend of mine has shown me the power of exchange before Jesus. When we meet, she prays and offers to let go of something at the foot of the cross and EVERY TIME Jesus will exchange for something more. Again last night, another dear friend described how she sweetly prays for each of her children and lays down her worry and asks God for what He has for each of them so she can hold that treasure instead.
What is your saltine cracker? What are you needing to surrender? What is in the tight grip of your hands that God is asking you to release? Our hands can not hold something new if we cling to the old. I pray today you have just a smidgen of time: in the carpool lane, washing dishes, a driveway pause. And ask the Father, what do I need to surrender? And what is the exchange? I’d love to hear from you, my friend.
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