“In recovery, we learn that it is important to identify what we want and need. The next step is letting go… Sometimes I even have to go to the point of saying “… I realize its important to me, but … I’m going to be absolutely happy without it and without any hope of getting it, because hoping to get it is making me nuts.”… We often can have what we really want and need, or something better. Letting go is part of the what we do to get it” – The Language of Letting Go

This reading reminds me clearly that I’m only in charge of the footwork, not the results. Waiting, hoping and praying for the result I think is best for me (and sometimes others) makes me unhappy. It’s actually an expectation which, if unmet, will cause a resentment. That’s why surrendering works so well. There’s a prayer called Letting Go in the 12 Step Prayer Book. In it, the person praying surrenders their broken dreams to God, but eventually snatches them back, crying “How can you be so slow?”. To which God replies “My child, what could I do? You never did let go.” In other words, pretending to turn it over with the secret desire of hoping to get what I want doesn’t work either!

But here’s the amazing news: When I choose to remember and believe that my HP has my back and knows what is best for me – that what I get and DON’T get is perfectly designed for me to have a life beyond my wildest dreams – then my faith allows me to fully surrender and make room for all the good stuff that’s trying to come into my life. This is my experience, and I have a life filled to the brim (overflowing actually) with good stuff to prove it! ILML