Hold On Loosely

Good Morning My Beloved Ones,

     I pray that you are drawing nearer and nearer to your Lord and are finding Him to be a true friend to you.

     Today I want to talk to you about "Hold On Loosely".  When I was in grade school, I had terrible handwriting.  I'd get homework assignments returned with an "F" not because the work was incorrect, but because it was so sloppy and illegible that the teacher couldn't tell if it was correct or not.  This displeased my father

greatly and he decided to do something about it.  He said my problem was that I held my pencil so tightly, clenching it between my fingers and thumb so that the lead ground into the paper, making the letters close, tight and difficult to read.  then as my hand would cramp and I loosened it up, my writing sprawled so it was hard to tell where one word or sentence stopped and another began.  My father remedied this by showing me how to hold the pencil loosely, teaching me to form graceful letters in a light, fluid motion.  We practiced for hours.  Then as I did my homework, he'd walk back and forth behind me watching over my shoulder and at any given moment, without warning, would try to snatch the pencil from my hand.  It it came out easily, he'd praise me.  If I was holding too tightly, I'd get a rap on the knuckles with a ruler.  It stung.  But his methods paid off.  When my beautifully written homework came home with A's, I was rewarded with ice cream.  This childhood lesson not only taught me better penmanship, it taught me an important principle for life today.  It taught me to hold on loosely.

     Our Bible tells us if we are followers of Christ this world is not our home.  We are merely pilgrims passing through.  Jesus is coming in a day and an hour we know not and we know that at some point, His believers will be caught away into the air with Him. (I Thess. 4:17)

 To be ready for this event, we need to be holding on loosely to the things of this world.  It's as if the Father is walking back and forth in Heaven, looking down to see how this world is progressing and at any given moment will snatch His believers off this earth with His own hand.  If we are holding too tightly to the things of this earth, I believe be won't be easily grasped and may remain.  The consequences, the Bible tells us, for those left behind will be more severe than a rap on the knuckles.

     So how do we learn to hold on loosely?  You start by realizing that the things of this earth are temporary and have no eternal value.  Then you practice letting go.  if you are out and about and are wearing a jacket over a sweatshirt and see someone i a t-shirt shivering, give him your jacket.  It doesn't matter if it's your favorite jacket or an expensive designer jacket.  These things should not have a tight grip on us, nor we on them.  We need to hold on loosely and be able to easily let them go.  Jesus said in Luke 6:30, "Give to every man that asketh of thee, and to him that taketh your goods ask them not from him again."  He was saying, "Don't expect to get it back, let it go."  He was teaching us how to hold on loosely to the things of this world.

     As I worked on my homework all those years ago, I began to look forward to and work toward getting the A's and the ice cream.  We need to look forward to our real home in Heaven and work toward that end by letting go of the things of this world.  Like my handwriting, it takes practice.

     Start practicing now, my friends.  I want each of us to be easily grasped by the Father when He comes to take His own.

I'll meet you in the air.  Your sister, Raelynn