By Kwen S., Minnesota
Reprinted with permission
On a cold day in midwinter, I was driving on a deserted country road to see some friends. Unknown to me, a strong north wind had packed the snow. What used to be soft mounds became hard snowbanks.
Such a snowbank was on the road ahead of me. My thinking was, “If I get up some speed, I should be able to plow through the snow.” With softer snow such a strategy usually worked. In this case, my speed took me into the middle of trouble. I was stuck!
I tried rocking the car forward and back. That didn’t work. Since my car was small, I thought I could try pushing it by hand. That didn’t work, either. No matter how much I revved the engine and spun the wheels or how hard I pushed, nothing worked. All of my human skills, strength and wisdom came to nothing. I stayed stuck!
What was I to do? Then I remembered Let Go and Let God. I prayed, “God, I’m stuck. I’m in trouble. I’ve tried what I can humanly do and nothing works. I need your help.”
Wouldn’t you know it, within ten minutes an area resident came by. Between his pushing and my driving, we got the car out of the snowbank and I was on the road again even though my good Samaritan got sprayed with snow.
How I live my life is like this incident. I spin my mental wheels, expending a lot of energy. The end result is that I’ve gone nowhere. I’m hopelessly stuck and all my human effort gets me more and more stuck. I get stuck in the past regarding acts and words that should never have happened. The memories continue to haunt me and I clench my teeth and grimace when I remember. Sometimes I even get stuck in the future. If the present is hopeless and overwhelming, I think the future must hold the same thing. What can I do?
I can admit I’m stuck and that my efforts are useless. I can Let Go and Let God and I can pray. Who knows how God may respond? Perhaps, as in my wintry situation, human help will arrive. Perhaps an overlooked fact or idea will come. Perhaps a definite sense of God’s presence will give me hope. What my experience, strength and hope tells me is when I get stuck in life: Let Go and Let God. When I do that, I discover that a way opens where there was no way before. I’m even free to learn from the experience so I won’t get stuck again.
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