A Meditation on Letting Go

There is a pastor named Maxie Dunnam who relates to a story told by the author, Loren Isley. When Isley was 16, one day he leaned out the second-story window of his high school, and he saw an old junk dealer riding in a cart filled with cast-off clothing, discarded furniture, and an assortment of broken down metal objects, and the cart was being pulled by an old broken down horse. Isley later wrote, “ When my eye fell upon that junk dealer passing by, I thought instantly… immortalize this un-seizable moment, for the junk man is the symbol of all that is going or gone.” 

Dunnam picks up on this image beautifully. She writes, “It really is an image to consider… By the time most of us get to be adults, we have accumulated a great deal of stuff. We’ve learned so many wrong things, stored up so much misinformation, learned to respond in so many destructive ways. We’ve adopted all the biting, snarling, snippy styles of relating, become secretive and cynical. We carry a lot of stuff around, and it burdens us…”

She then invites her readers, as I’m going to invite you, to think through some of what we might want to discard in order to make our journey through life a bit easier, lighter, freer.  

I invite you now to close your eyes and use your imagination for just a few minutes.  

Picture yourself with a large trash bag – one of those big black contractor bags. Take hold of it, and begin to wander through every room of your life; select the stuff you need to leave behind… 

It could be self-pity, or a hidden hatred, or an illegitimate responsibility – that’s not yours to bear – but you are bearing it… Go ahead and put it into the trash bag. It could be a past sin that still has power over you. Maybe you said something – or did something that you wish you could take back – or do over… Put that in the bag. Or, maybe it’s the other way around. Maybe someone hurt you, and you just can’t let it go…. Put it in the trash bag… It could be some sort of crippling fear… or unrelenting worry… or prejudice. Or, perhaps a jealousy you’re harboring? Put it in the trash bag… Act it out in your imagination… It could be any number of things. You know what weighs you down, and what stuff you don’t need to carry with you any longer. Put it into the bag.

Now, get in your mind a picture of the old junk man, with his cart filled with cast-off refuge… In your mind’s eye, throw your bag onto his wagon and let it be taken away.  

Finally, substitute, for the image of the junk man, Christ himself. Do you see him? Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Leave your stuff behind – all your junk. Leave it…  

Now, as you open your eyes, know that you are forgiven. Your failure and weakness are accepted. May you feel a little lighter, a little freer, with your heart wide open to receive the abundant grace and love of God. Amen.