National Let It Go Day, Forgive With Forgetting: Don't Let the Nouns Get You Down
School House Rock NOUNS
NATIONAL LET IT GO DAY June 23
Many of us are: Blessed’ (satisfied, fortunate, and privileged with success) or Cursed’ (miserable, unfortunate, doomed) by one very powerful tool… What we hang on to, or what we decide to let go.
In honor of
NATIONAL LET IT GO DAY....
A simple review of a powerful and important little rule:
A NOUN IS
- A PERSON,
- PLACE,
- THING
or Idea too...
Maybe it was a person? A place or moment in time? Maybe something that happened long ago? This 'thing' has had power long enough! It's time to LET IT GO. Are you ready? On June 23rd we can join the ranks of millions who will corporately decide to let go of something we no longer want to carry with us. We have decided to say goodbye. We may remember, but we will let go of the sting.
- THE FACT: Words kill, words give life; they're either poison or fruit - you choose. (Prov. 18:21 Message Bible)…It's your HEART that gives meaning to your words. It's these very same words and ideas that replay over and over.
- THE DEFINITION: The name of a person, place, thing or idea. “…refers to an entity, quality, state, action, or concept”. (Merriam-Webster, 2010)
- THE TRUTH: Our words are no more than thoughts conjured up in our minds. Spoken words are puffs of air, grunts, and groans huffed past vocal cords to represent whatever we want them to mean. They have as much power or meaning as we decide to give them.
What if we decide to change the script? No longer define ourselves by those old familiar terms, let it go...
Tim McGraw LET IT GO
Lyrics to LET IT GO by Tim McGraw
I’ve been caught sideways out here on the crossroads Trying to buy back the pieces I lost of my soul It’s hard when the devil won’t get off your back It’s like carrying around the past in a hundred pound sack
Today I’m gonna keep on walking
I’m gonna hold my head up high
I’m gonna leave it all behind
Today I’m gonna stand out in the rain
Let it wash it all away Yeah wash it all away
I’m gonna let it go Oh yeah
I’m gonna let it go Oh yeah
Skeletons and Ghosts are hiding in the shadows Threatening me with all the things that they know Choices and mistakes, they all know my name But I’m through holding in and holding onto all that pain
Today I’m gonna keep on walking I’m gonna hold my head up high
Got No more tears to cry Today I’m gonna stand out in the rain Let it wash it all away Yeah wash it all away I’m gonna let it go Oh yeah I’m gonna let it go Oh yeah
And I know I know I know I know I’ve been forgiven I know I know I know I’m gonna start living Today I’m gonna keep on walking I’m gonna hold my head up high I’m gonna leave it all behind Today I’m gonna stand out in the rain Let it wash it all away Yeah wash it all away
I’m gonna let it go Oh yeah
I’m gonna let it go Oh yeah
I’m gonna let it go Oh yeah
Oh yeah
‘Nouns’ are ‘NAMES’ for things, NOT the thing itself of course. Just like your name. It may fit you, but you are more than a title. Why is this important to understand?
NATIONAL LET IT GO DAY…
When considering the ‘letting go’ of the past, or things that are not helpful to us, we must remember the person, place, or thing was just that... in the past. All that remains is the past definitions we've agreed to hold on to. The real power is the TITLE, NAME, CONCEPT, IDEA, THOUGHT, and MEMORY we allow. It is now just a NOUN, or a SYMBOL. We may remember them, but we can also work towards releasing the power we give to it.
Don't Let the NOUNS Get You DOWN...Let it GO!
A Noun is a PERSON: Me & Others. Forgive yourself and also forgive that other guy!
"And now here's a little secret: Feelings are like plants. Don't water them and they wither away to dust." (Tzvi Freeman, www.chbad.org)
"Retribution leads to a cycle of reprisal, leading to counter-reprisal in an inexorable movement, as in Rwanda, Northern Ireland, and in the former Yugoslavia. The only thing that can break that cycle, making possible a new beginning, is forgiveness. Without forgiveness there is no future." (Desmond Tutu)
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” (Heb 8:12)
“But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” (Matt 5:44)
“Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. “(Hebrews 12:14–15)
A Noun is a PLACE: A Specified position or area in time. Decide that I am worth more than the EVENT that happened. Although the past is a part of me, I won’t let it rule, confine or define me!
“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves." (Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning)
"Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:13-14)
A Noun is a THING: Thoughts, Ideas, Concepts, Notion, Event...those nagging desire to hold on to paralyzing mindsets (time to renew the mind). Shout over them with praise, prayers, spiritual truths, or even affirmations if you choose, but choose today to do well, be as blessed as you are able, experience the greatest gifts God has for you.
“The one thing you can’t take away from me is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me. The last of one’s freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstance.” (Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning)
"In a word, live together in the forgiveness of your sins, for without it no human fellowship, least of all marriage can survive. Don’t insist on your rights, don’t blame each other, don’t judge or condemn each other, don’t find fault with each other, but accept each other as you are, and forgive each other every day from the bottom of your hearts." (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters Papers from Prison)
"We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Co 10:5).
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-- think about such things.(Phil. 4:8)
LET IT GO!
Reference:
noun. (2010). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.
Retrieved June 21, 2010, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/noun