letting go of the lions

My son has a toy lion that he will not let go of.  It is small enough to fit in his hand and he takes it everywhere - the tub, to bed, you name it.  Right now it is his favorite thing in the whole world.  So you can imagine how upset he was yesterday when he couldn't find it.  It must have somehow loosened from his death-grip and fell to the ground on the way from the car into the house.  Luckily, we found it and all was well with the world - at least for my son.

This is a cute part of him being 2 years old.  This little toy lion, which probably isn't even worth a quarter, is priceless to him.  He loves it and needs it wherever he goes.  This is a cute thing now, but I bet it won't be very cute if he is still carrying it around when he is 18.  We indulge his little favorite toy because we know that it will most likely be short-term.  He will move on, find another toy, and we will adjust to make sure he develops an appropriate relationship with these toys.

During this season of year we are reminded of the great traditions that we have.  They shape who we are and even who we are yet to become.  They are a part of us and we cannot separate ourselves from them without some collateral damage.  (I was upset in not being able to fulfill my annual Thanksgiving tradition of falling asleep on the couch after the meal.)  In our lives we carry around these special things but there are also times when we need to learn to let them go.  We cannot carry around our 'lions' forever.

The struggle, particularly in the church concerning tradition, change, and the cultural shock of a new pastoral leader is that we don't want to let our 'lions' go.  These lions mean a great deal to us, but honestly we look a bit ridiculous carrying around our lions as grown adults.  Much like if I had a blanky still, or my favorite bedtime toy monkey sitting next to me in my office.  There are some things that we must learn to let go of - as hard as it may be.

What lions are you carrying around still?
What have you done that needs to be undone?
What have you learned that needs to be unlearned or relearned?

Take a lesson from Jesus - He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.  You don't see Him clinging, reaching, and refusing to let go.  Let the lions fall, because you may never know what you may be able to obtain next.