"Letting Go: Having Hope and Faith when God let's us Fall"

My son starts whining, his body bent over the kitchen chair, his hands on the bars of the chair as his little feet dangle just centimeters above the floor. He kicks his feet back and forth, wanting to put his feet down, becoming frustrated that he can’t reach solid ground.

My husband and I watch him. It’s entertaining, watching him learn. He had crawled onto the chair himself, and now we want to see if he can figure out how to get down.

All he has to do is let go.

And so, we wait. We wait for him to trust us, and more importantly, trust himself to let go. He looks at me, eyes wide, wanting me to pick him up, and even though I want to, I also want him to learn. After a minute or so of complaining, of whining, of being a little afraid, his little fingers finally uncurl the back of the chair and he slides down, his feet finding the ground. His face lights up as he realizes that he is safe and that he wasn’t that far away from his destination after all. He looks at us and smiles, clapping his hands.

***

Although it is slightly humorous, I once again experience a peephole glance.

How many times have I been in this situation spiritually? How many times have I been the one holding on spiritually, mentally, or emotionally, just centimeters from where I wanted to be, but so afraid to let go?

Because the truth of the matter is it’s scary to let go. I am afraid of falling and not landing on my feet. I am afraid that instead of landing on solid ground, I will drown in failure.

But sometimes, I forget who sees the big picture. Heavenly Father sees is all. He knows that we have the ability to land on our feet, and even if we don’t, He knows we can get back up, and He’s never far away to help us. If we want to get on solid ground, we have to trust Him. If we want to move forward, we have to be willing to let go of the things that are holding us back.

I used to think that when we need to let go, we should do with without fear. Overtime, I’ve changed my perspective. Sometimes, it’s scary to trust God. Now, I don’t mean “dangerous” kind of scary. More like a “trust fall” kind of scary- even if we know we will have someone to catch us, even though we know we will land on our feet, that first step of letting go or trusting God to let us fall a little is scary.

“Letting go” can look like a lot of things-

“I’ve never lived anywhere else and I’m afraid to move.”

“I’m scared to serve a mission because what if I fail?”

“If I say what I stand up for, I’ll lose my friends, and I’ll be alone.”

But letting go does not only apply to physical things- it’s the unseen things, too. Maybe it’s hard to let go of a grudge you have against someone and you’re struggling to forgive that person. Maybe it’s letting go of your doubt so that you can feel spiritually free. Maybe you have doubt in yourself, uncertain that you can do hard things that come your way. Elder Dieter Utchdorf, then President Utchdorf, said the following about this statement- “Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith.”

When changes in our lives happen that may require us to let go of things, do we have trust in God that He has more in store for us than we could ever have for ourselves? Are we committed to Him?

I love what Elder Renlund, a member of the Quorum of Apostles, said, “We will never forget a commitment etched in our hearts. For faith to grow, we must take faith building actions. A half-hearted commitment will not guarantee anything,” (Unwavering Commitment to Jesus Christ, 2019).

I always used the terms “hope” and “faith” intermittently. While I don’t think that’s a bad thing, and while they are very similar, I’ve recently come to learn for myself (and perhaps, just because I may have needed the reminder/lesson) that though similar, “hope” and “faith” may be slightly different.

To have “hope” means to believe that there is a happy ending. It’s “an abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promises to you” (Preach My Gospel, pg. 117). To hope for something means to have an assurance that regardless of how hard things are right now, the best results will happen to us if we have the faith to endure.

Working hand in hand with hope is faith. To me, having “faith” means taking action because of the hope we have that things will work out. It’s almost like the motivation and encouragement to take that step forward, or let go of the things that are holding us back. If I have the hope that I will see my family again, then my faith will help me to make the decisions I need to make to ensure that I can see them again. I love how the scriptures summarize the relationship between hope and faith in Alma 32:21: “Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.”

In my personal life, Jacob and I have been having to make big decisions, decisions that may tremendously affect our future. While I am excited, I find myself being like Little Abram on the chair- I know that if I want to land, I have to be willing to let go of some things.

Why is it that we do that? Why is it so much easier for us to hold on to the things that prevent us from moving forward? How would life be if we consistently and resiliently pressed forward, paying no heed to the negativity that try to sway us, or the things that holds us back from our progression, when all we really want, whether we realize it or not, is to progress in life?

I believe that we are divinely designed to progress. We are divinely designed to desire to move forward, to grow and develop, to let go of things that hold us back.

In terms of letting go, we may have the hope that we will land on our feet, but hoping won’t do much if we don’t let go to get on solid ground. Exercising faith, or letting go, can be scary, but because of hope, we can have the assurance that we will land. Sometimes, it takes longer than we want to reach our destination, but if we continue to exercise faith in the Savior, we will land on a foundation, because He IS the Foundation. He already paved the path for us to take- it’s just up to us to let Him lead us. As we remember that “it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation… a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall,” (Helaman 5:12).

***

When Abram finally allowed himself to let go of the chair and land on the ground, his face lights up. He looks at me with that glow in his eyes, as if to say, “I did it, Mom!”

I hope that I can have the faith to be the same way so that at the end of it all, I can say, “I did it, Father.”

#itsanewnormallife #lettinggo #faithandhope #motherhood #peepholeglances