So many life lessons have been jam packed into the last two and a half months of my life. Typically that means I’d have so much to post about considering my blog is all about the lessons I’ve been learning in this journey called life. As fruitful as the last two and a half months have been, they’ve also been rather painful. Because of that I’ve given myself the opportunity to process my journey without blogging for a bit.

I feel it’s necessary for me now to share just one of the lessons that I’ve been walking through: the lesson of living with hands wide open. I once read a piece of advice that if you go into a tough situation with your hands unclenched and palms facing up, you are much more likely to be gentle, forgiving, and loving. Try it. Clench your fists tight and take note of how you feel. Now open your hands up and face your palms toward the sky. Notice the difference in your disposition? I’m guessing you probably felt much more aggressive and ready to fight with your fists clenched than you did with your palms facing the sky.

I find myself often pleading with God to show me where He wants me in my life and to make His plans abundantly clear. As much as I truly want to be living according to God’s will for my life, it’s also incredibly scary. It’s tough to give up control, to unclench my fists, and hand the reigns over to God. I like to be in the driver seat. In retrospect what I’ve been doing is asking God to come along for the journey rather than asking Him to lead my journey. What sense is there in that philosophy?

To live with your hands wide open is tough. I’ve not even begun to come close to mastering it. One reason is because you have to make yourself incredibly vulnerable in order to live with hands wide open. It’s really tough for me to allow myself to be vulnerable at times because of fear. Fear of doing the wrong thing, fear of not being good enough, and mostly the fear of rejection. If we live with our hands wide open then we have to make ourselves open to the possibility of all the bad along with the good. We might think that keeping our hands closed tight will keep us protected from the bad, but in reality it just keeps us from receiving all of the good that God wants to put in our hands and diminishes our trust in God.

Living with hands wide open ultimately also means loving with your heart wide open. Learn to let go of control and open up your hands and heart so you can taste all the goodness God has in store for you!

Lord, teach me to live and love with my heart wide open.