LETTING GO OF THE PAST

Whether it has happened in the past, whether it is happening now, or whether it will happen in the future…

It always hurts when we have to let go of something or someone who has meant a lot to us.

We struggle not to encounter such situations in our lives; yet, sometimes we cannot run away and are forced to confront the worst of our fears.

Some of us may have had a friend who died in a car accident, or a friend who suddenly had to move away…

Perhaps we have had a family member who left our life without any warning…

Possibly our faithful pup died, or was taken away from us…

Maybe our house burnt down and all the sentimental tokens we collected throughout our life were lost forever…

Regardless of the reason...

The more that we lose, the more our pain increases until we humbly accept that:

Everything which has happened to us is the Divine Will of Almighty God.

What we want for ourselves is not always what is best for us.  As a result of this, God sometimes steps into our lives and pushes us away from a road on which He does not want us to be.  This then directs us onto the way which He does wish for us to follow. 

It is similar to the idea of a child who does not know his way home.  As he is starting down a wrong path, one of his parents grabs him by the arm and pulls him onto the correct path. 

Is his parent being cruel to him by dragging him away from the road on which he wanted to walk?

No.

So, is God being cruel to us?

No.

God knows best!  

Therefore, let us constantly remind ourselves of this, and also of the fact that He loves us more than we could ever even possibly love ourselves.

Will we easily forget anything or anyone whom we loved dearly?

No…

Will we still feel pain or regret at losing them?

Yes…

But, we do not need to let the pain in our hearts consume our souls.

We need to use prayer to lead us to God and away from the sorrow or grief which is pulling us apart.  Yet, sometimes prayer by itself is not enough.  So, here are a few practical things which I have found to be helpful:

1. We need to remember that we are not always to blame for everything.  When a friendship comes to a close, God may have had this happen in order to help us grow closer to Him.

2. Even if we are the cause of the end of a friendship, we should not lose our inner peace by proudly telling ourselves that we should or could have done better or been stronger.  Instead, we must remind ourselves that we are all human and we all have our faults.

3. We must not grovel, mope, or idly diddle doddle around.  We must pick ourselves up and move on with life.  It may be that God arranged this situation in our life to awaken us and guide us onto a different and better path.

4. We must not blame other people.  All of this is happening for the best interest of everyone involved.  God willed this!

Finally, we must put all of our trust in God and ask Our Blessed Mother and the saints to give us strength and courage to never stop fighting the good fight and running the good race until the battle for our souls is achieved.