What Can You Let Go Of? - The One Year Devotions for Women on the Go

Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Matthew 19:21

On my mirror is a reminder, a quote by Bernadette Devlin: “To gain that which is worth having, it may be necessary to lose everything else.”

To achieve the goals of highest priority, I might need to let go of some things I treasure. Dr. Dean Ornish, a leader in the treatment and prevention of heart disease, was himself struggling with some life choices about career opportunities that were presenting themselves.

A friend said to him, “If you are swimming in the ocean and someone offers you a great big bag of gold—a golden opportunity—and you take that bag and hold on to it, you will drown. Are you going to hold on to something that will keep you from what most nourishes your soul? Either you let go now, or you become a slave to the very thing you created and it tells you how to live.”^a

Reflecting on this conversation, Dr. Ornish writes: “When my self worth was defined by what I did, then I had to take every important opportunity that came along, even if a relationship suffered. Now I understand that real power is measured not by how much you have but by how much you can walk away from”^b (emphasis added).

What do you need to walk away from in order to most obediently walk the path God has for you?