Let Go

When our weekly lectio divina group met today, we prayed with Isaiah 7:13-15:

7:13 Then Isaiah said: "Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also?

7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.

7:15 He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.

This brought to mind a toddler and so I remembered a picture of the child Jesus sweeping, which then reminded me of a week of lectures given by Wendy Wright at the Two Year Spiritual Formation Academy a few years ago. One day she spoke of the Sacred Heart and showed some medieval pictures of a golden haired child Jesus in a heart. Odd though that seems, I was greatly struck by the picture of Jesus sweeping out the heart.

This is a beautiful image of how to let go--let go of expectations, judgments, worries, whatever, all of which may arise during family gatherings that won't fit into the Norman Rockwell image of perfection. I so want everyone to be happy, but I have no way of controlling other people's emotions. Let go, sweep out my false image of control! I am hoping that I can remember the image of the child Jesus sweeping away whatever I need to let go of, remembering that Immanuel (God with us) is here.