More than anything, I am a firm believer that we must be able to let things die in order for new things to be born.
There is a saying by T.D Jakes in one of his sermons, where he says (and I am paraphrasing), “How long will you mourn?
Do not mourn things that God has allowed to die because His grace is sufficient for you to survive the loss.”
How often do we cling to things that are no longer meant to be in our lives even when they no longer bring us joy or peace?
I once read on my Facebook timeline that “The key to surviving in life is learning how to move on: move on from jobs, old friends, lovers and bad situations.”
The truth is, there is healing in moving on and that is to just keep moving.
Deeply rooted in the ability to move on and say goodbye is being willing to embrace change.
This is probably why the prospect of leaving behind what we know, to venture into the unknown, is frightening and often times emotional.
For many, change signifies death.
It is death of a way of life, a way of thinking, and a state of being.
Change requires for us to move forward and sometimes moving forward means leaving people, places and things we love (or once loved), simply because they no longer serve the next assignment of our lives.
Re-aligning your life to the next assignment requires clear thought, peace of mind and soul in order to see the possibilities that lie ahead.
Sometimes we need to let go of what no longer serves us, because the truth is anything you love should give you joy and shouldn’t feel like an exhausting effort anyway.
I believe another key to life is to have no attachments that bind us to fear of loss and moving on.
So it is imperative that we see each and every person, experience, and situation as a temporary assignment that will become a step for the next level of our lives.
Another gem I have heard from T.D. Jakes is that it takes a certain level of faith to move forward even when it’s painful.
He called it “being impassioned even when it hurts; being faithful even when the road ahead seems dim”.
I have found that some of the best lessons have come from my biggest losses and saddest
goodbyes.
Mandy Hale said, “Some people pass through our lives for a season to teach us lessons that we could never have learnt if they stayed.”
This is true for people, situations and things.
There is more that can be learnt from pain than that could ever be learnt from pleasure and that is the beauty of goodbye.
The art of goodbye becomes easier the older and wiser we get, because with age comes the understanding that there is no permanence in life.
So let us allow what must die to die so that we can have a renewing of the mind, body and soul in order to discover the hidden gems within ourselves.
That is the real gift of goodbye…
