When What Once You Thought, Is No More

And Good Morning! Just as the crocus emerges from under the snow, humans are able to do the same! From underneath the cold, darkness of grief, we are intended to emerge anew. If not, then why do we go through what we do if not to grow. Evolve. Change. Become something more, hopefully better. Shedding and leaving behind that which binds and constricts us like the dead skin of the snake. Useless and unnecessary as the skin, so is that which no longer produces positivity in our lives. I intend to grow and leave behind the pain and hurt which is not conducive to my growth. Gathering up what is green and new to plant along this journey into the next chapter of life.

Letting go does not require us to lose ourselves. Letting go can be so very painful. And that is ok. The pain lets you know that there was once something there you cared deeply about. You are allowed to feel that pain, as if you had a choice, and let it soften in your heart. When it first hits you, it is very cold, hard and excruciating like a boulder hurled into your gut. It is certainly a physical pain without a physical cause. But it is as real as a bone breaking. It stings, it burns, it focuses your attention to the source and clouds your mind from the shock of it. And it is there. And there… it is. You cannot show it to anyone else because it is happening on the inside. Those who know you and love you well will recognize the discomfort you are feeling. Those who care might try and find a remedy for you and even offer to carry the burden of it for you. And that alone gives us the one little thing we need. Hope. Like an analgesic can dull the pain of a broken limb, so do the words of those who care deeply. It provides the hope we need that just because some do not care, we have the hope that for whatever reason we are letting them go, the ones we hold on to see US and who we really are inside.

There can be an incredible freedom in the release of that which no longer exists or fits into your life. Find that, the freedom to escape the quagmire of chaos and stress that you have felt wrapping around your heart inhibiting the ability for it to beat easily and freely. That which has caused it to ache and search for the next beat. Let it go. Picture the removal of it like tearing the unwanted poisonous vine from your most beautiful rose because it is taking it over and choking it out. Blocking the much-needed sunlight it requires to truly grow and flourish. Throw it aside. Watch it wither before your eyes and discard it from your life. When this happens, you will find that there will be new growth, just like the rose. You will begin to see the tiny green sprouts of new leaves and the buds begin that will become beautiful flowers that will enrich your life and soon the poison vine will long be forgotten. As the vine grew, it wrapped the rose in warmth and perhaps a comfort in the beginning. Seeing it through the cold mornings and maybe even sheltering it from the cold dew of the night. But as the season turns, the vine only thinks of itself and how far it can grow above the host plant is has attached itself to, stealing its nourishment from the very ground in which it shared with its “beloved” new family. As quickly as it begins, the end is also appearing for the other. As the sunlight is soon stolen from the new buds, the buds will not be able to open and accept the nourishment intended for IT. It is best to pull this vine from the root. Then as you untangle it from the stems and leaves you will feel the pricks of the thorns on the rose and though you might bleed, that too will heal. Perhaps a reminder again of that which you once cared for is no longer a protection but harmful. Do not stop because it hurt. Continue to pull the vicious thing from what matters and is important. Releasing the beauty that your life possesses without that thing you thought was helping you but was only there to steal from you, trying to rise above you and eventually there to watch your leaves fall and your blooms to rot. Freedom from it allows the new growth and the happiness intended to come into the place where the boulder once sat and is no more.

Yes, these are all metaphors for our imagination but can be applied realistically to the soul. The heart and soul will listen if told. So, you must tell them. Let that go from our existence. Quickly you will feel the ease and now focus on what is in front of you, never dwelling on the once was. Or even perhaps the once you ONLY thought it was as often can be the case. Sometimes we place our hope in things that do not share the same vision. As the case in the vine and the rose. The rose may not realize that the vine is selfish and self-serving until it is too late. But the vine knows all along that with the strength of the rose bush it can grow taller and bigger. But it does not know that once discovered, it can quickly be stopped and remedied simply by its removal.

So don’t lose yourself under a vine you think is something you love or need. When you feel that constriction begin to try and control your growth, cut it out. Or if it is trying to leave on its own, do not try and stop it. Don’t wait for it to steal your sunshine from around you. The longer you wait to cut it and remove it the more damage you are doing to yourself. Wrap the bloody prick sites and in a couple of moments, you will have forgotten they were there. Maybe you will not forget the hurt they caused you thus allowing you to grow into something that won’t allow it to happen again. Learn, grow, flourish into the hope you hold deep in your heart. Be a rose, with thorns for a reason. And the flower to those who truly love you.

Starting anew, go blessed into this day which the Lord hath made.

JH+