The first step

Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go. (Herman Hesse)

I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. (Philippians 3:12-14)

Too many times we hold onto our mistakes, focusing all our thought and attention on them instead of what Christ wants to do with them. He actually wants to use them as a catapult to move us forward, not anchor us to the past. God is always doing something new - reminding us to forget what lies in the past and focus on the new (Isaiah 43:18-19). God is making a way forward, but we have to step out into it if we are to ever be free of our past. When we focus on today, we are letting go of those things we are unable to change and leaning into what God wants to do with and through us today. 

Psalm 55:22 tells us to cast our burdens on the Lord so that he can sustain us. In other words, we 'throw off' what is not useful and move toward what is most promising - Christ's grace, provision, and purpose. Some of us are still trying to make sense of some hurt or hang-up in our past, all the while missing out on what God is so eager to do in our present. Sometimes we just need to let go of the drive to understand - to make sense of it all. We may never fully appreciate the things that created such disappointment or disgust in our lives, so we must not dwell upon them. 

When we begin to put all our cares and worries about those things upon the shoulders of Christ, we let the one who can bear that burden carry it. How do we do that? 'Cast' carries the idea of putting forth effort in order to no longer be in control of what we once held so closely. We no longer desire to carry the thing - so we throw it far from us. It isn't useful to us; therefore, it needs to be removed as far from us as possible. No one moves forward until they unburden themselves from the past. Maybe our way forward begins with the first step of letting go of the burden of our mistakes. Just sayin!