Have you ever told someone you love, “You can let go now. I can do it on my own.”
It requires a new-felt freedom, especially for a child, to say, “Let Go.”
There are many times in our lives when we adults must let go of certain things— good ones and bad ones. Sometimes we know in our hearts that what we’re doing isn’t good for us—maybe a habit, maybe a person, maybe even a job. It’s hard to let go; but we know we must move forward. And knowing is the first step to doing it.
But what if we’re not certain we ought to let go of a person—or worse, what if we just don’t want to?
What is the criteria for letting go? Is it only our criteria, only what’s good or bad for us? Or should the criteria be what is good for another person, too; someone we love?
Our families fit into the category of people we love. What wouldn’t we do for them? I mean that literally. We love them. But do we love them enough for the action it might take to let something, or someone, go?
There is no harder task in life than letting a dying loved one go. We can’t imagine ourselves without them. And this is the situation where Faith makes all the difference. If we know our loved one has tried to live a good life, we can be certain he or she will be received into the merciful arms of God. Letting them go, while never easy, is our cooperation with God’s eternal plan.
May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
Translating a World on the Edge 