Let It Go

"Don't let them in, don't let them see
Be the good girl you always have to be
Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know
Well, now they know.
Let it go."

Childhood good girl, that was me. Someone even signed my high school year book saying, "You're the kid all our parents wanted us to be." Yup. That was me...the good girl. The only place I felt free to let people in, to let them see, was when I was borrowing the words of others and acting a part in a play. As a young adult, when I took on the role of minister's wife, my expertise at playing the good girl seeped right into my "spiritual" life....and it took me a lot of years to unravel the differences between spiritual and religious. 
Religion can trap us. 
Spirituality has the potential to set us free!

"It's funny how some distance

Makes everything seem small

And the fears that once controlled me

Can't get to me at all....

Let it go."

It is funny. I've worked hard to get the "shoulds" out of my head. Out of my soul! I've worked hard to take responsibility for the fact that I allowed other people to dictate how I was supposed to feel and act. And it's good. The taking responsibilty stuff.....except that instead of blaming others, it can be hard not to blame myself. To be mad at myself. But the words of this song ring true for me...the more distance there is between now and then. Between me and the people I yielded to...the smaller it all seems. And the fear has been replaced by peace. And freedom. 

"Let it go. Let it go.
That perfect girl is gone.
Here I stand.
In the light of day.
Let the storm rage on,
The cold never bothered me anyway."
{Lyrics from Frozen}

.....me thinks I should see this movie!!

Linking up with Kathy for
Song-ography

Gentleness

We don't live in a dangerous area.
It's what anyone would call a "nice suburb."
And yet...
The young woman who lives in the apartment downstairs from my daughter was assaulted two weeks ago. By an ex who's now in prison. And less than half a mile from her place, there was a murder-suicide yesterday. A family...twin boys who hadn't celebrated their first birthday. Both parents gone...rumors are they were going through a nasty divorce.

All I could think yesterday...this morning...was how much I want this world we live in to be a gentler place. For people to be clothed in kindness and to learn and exercise self-restraint.

Today, I'm praying for gentleness. First, that it characterize me. And then for the whole wide world.

"Let the gentle bush dig its root deep 

and spread upwards to split the boulder."

Carl Sandburg

Linking with

Communal Global

and 

Testure Tuesday