When our pastor started talking about this, I didn’t know the “exact” word that I would use, but I knew what it needed to convey. Anyone that knows me very well will tell you that I have a tendancy to want to control things. Not in a overbearing sort of way, but I like to be in control! For some situations, this is a good thing. For others, it is not.
I find myself stressing over things if they don’t turn out exactly how I want them to. I am very impatient waiting for the results that I want and get frustrated when they don’t come. So the first thing that came to mind when I started thinking about this word was “let it go”. Obviously more than one word. So I tried to think of words that mean “to let go”. The first word I found was Release, but most everything I read about this word related to prisoners. This didn’t quite fit what I was looking for. So I actually Googled the phrase “let go, let God” and found an interesting site called “Path of Healing”. It talked about how letting go does not have to mean giving up, but it allows a space to occur – it opens the door to working in harmony with what is inevitable instead of using our energy to fight against it. There was an ad on this page for a deck of “personal development” cards that are meant to inspire you to allow life to happen instead of forcing outcomes. The word they used was “Relinquish”; Relinquish regrets over the past and fears about the future. There are many decisions that I have made in my life that I regret, and many situations in my life that I want to control…I want to “fix” them, but I can’t. So I need a word that will remind me that I need to give it to God, I am not in control. I will RELINQUISH it to Him. This is my word.