Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from You.”

Our working years are often spent managing, taking charge. But eventually there comes a time to “let go”. Happily, life itself has been training us for ‘letting go’. We move from the breast to bottle, from basketball to bingo. Time, circumstances and growth involve letting go of a position, letting go of nights out with the boys or the gals. Some of this has been smooth, natural-seeming; other elements only happen ‘kicking and screaming’.

Forty-five-year-old Brett says toughest was getting rid of those slacks with the 34-inch waist. Any one of us with a little reflection can think of many times when we’ve had to let go of some practice or position. Politicians pondering whether to run for reelection after 30 years in the same office get the publicity but you or I face similar decisions.

With age and experience there comes the inevitable need to leave some work, some position, some even cushy spot. Letting go of our control, of our enterprise, our position, our children, our mobility, our independence. The words of Jesus to Peter John’s Gospel (21:18) -- no matter the context -- seem an apt description of the human trajectory. “When you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.”

Letting go of our driver’s license likely sums up the trials and terrors of letting go for many of us. No matter our age, perhaps now is the appropriate time to do some thinking and praying about taking up, taking on -- and leaving behind and letting go.

Psalm 27: “I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness / in the land of the living.

Wait for the Lord; be strong; / be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!”

Reply to Fr. Don at: DTalafous@csbsju.edu

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