Life: Hold Lightly

"...I have learned to be content with whatever I have" (Phil. 4:11, NRSV).

Life is Fragile, and No One is Exempt

Life flies by in a matter of seconds; and in the blink of an eye everything can change. From the housing market crash of 2008, to the terrorist attack on 9/11, to the loss of jobs, houses, money, and most importantly, lives. In a mere moment, what we have can be taken from us. As much as we try to control life and hold onto our possessions, the truth is, we simply cannot.

Life, as the saying goes, is fragile, and as people of faith, we are no more exempt from things being stripped away from us than the rest of the world. That which we cherish is fair game in the uncertainty and fragility of life. We cannot prevent disaster from striking us anymore than non-believers, as Jesus declared in Matthew 5:45, God sends both sun and rain on the righteous and the unrighteous; we all experience the fragility of life.

Possessing Stuff or Stuff Possessing Us?

The age-old problem, as illustrated in the parable of the rich fool who stored up his possessions, trying to amass as much as he could, not realizing that his death was imminent (Lk. 12), is still a present reality. We find ourselves gripping onto things and people harder than we should, much like a child's security blanket, and we all have something to which we cling: fame, family, friends, house, career, money, security, perception, and power.

Our grip on our possessions, on our need for security and comfort, and on the "creature comforts" often reverses with these items gripping and possessing us. Though we learn how to grip from infancy, needing to hold onto something or someone in order to find comfort and security, yet over time we find that we are in the grip of those things as the stuff of life possesses us instead.

Our Deepest Need

Thus loss of any kind can remind us that we are to hold lightly to life, both objects and people, because there is One who desires our attention and love more than anything. No, we are not called to isolate ourselves from the world, refusing to love and enjoy both people and things. But I think that we are called to hold onto them lightly, knowing that in a second they are gone, and they were never meant to fulfill our deepest longing anyway. As Saint Augustine wrote, "Thou has made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee."

Something to Hold On to...

Augustine has also said, "Find out how much God has given you and from it take what you need; the remainder is needed by others." 

When we begin to realize that we have more than we really need, that we are blessed with what we do have (especially in a rich country like America as compared to the rest of the world), and let go of our grip on things, the more freely we can give away. If we can learn to loosen our grip, to give back to God and others, we will find freedom from life's grip and security in our Father's.

Life: hold lightly. God: hold tightly.

This is our daily struggle, to loosen our grip on life while holding tightly to God, whether it is people or possessions; holding lightly to those things, while holding tightly to Him.