Have you ever tripped over your own feet? Maybe you turned too fast and your feet tangled up and the next thing you knew you were on the ground wondering what just happened. This happens to me metaphorically more often than physically. Mentally and spiritually I trip over self-made stumbling blocks and end up flat on my back, the emotional wind knocked from me, asking how did this happen again? Forward progress is impossible when you’re laid flat out, yet at times, it seems that I just can’t seem to get out of my own way.

I believe it is the things we carry with us that make us stumble and fall. Fear, guilt, unreasonable expectations, envy, anger, self-doubt—the list could fill volumes. Why do we cling to such things? They do nothing for us but upset our balance, trip us up, leave us battered and hurting. Yet, cling to them we do. We pull them out from time to time. Sometimes we cradle and stroke them as if they were something precious, something that teaches us about who we are. The truth is that they teach only lies. There is nothing about these things that has anything to do with who we really are or who we are meant to become. Our destiny is nothing so bleak as they would have us believe. We are meant for light, not darkness, for joy, not fear and sorrow.

Surrender the part of you that clings to these stumbling blocks. Give it over to the One who has the power to remove all darkness from you and replace it with light. Let go. Get out of the way and let the light in. Your step will be lighter, more graceful, and you will spend far less time on your metaphorical back and far more time moving forward with leaps and bounds.