Bullet.

It takes strength to let go of what you love.

Whether by choice or necessity, circumstance or conviction, for now or forever, it isn’t easy to open your hands and, either willingly or against your will, say “This time, no.” But it can be done.

It takes something extraordinary to let go of what you love and seek no substitutes. 

When a fever still rages, we tend to choose the remedy over the redemption. But it’s as healthy as settling for bandages with a bullet in your chest. You don’t just need someone to stop the bleeding; you need a surgeon to get the metal out. You need to stop struggling. You need to scab and scar and heal. You need to let someone else take over and trust them, trust Him, to provide.

Too often, we abandon patience and seize a replacement to take the edge off the pain. We harm ourselves when the chosen substitutes fail to provide relief and the infection persists. We harm others when, in desperation, we use human love as a drug to fill an emptiness only heaven knows the depth of.

If only we would live unafraid of empty-handedness, embracing both pain and joy as ground from the same road. No retreats, no regrets.

The providence of God is always good, and He needs no substitutes. He will make you strong enough.

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