A few weeks ago, I wrote about finding the grace in letting things go.
Today, I was thinking about the grace we discover in holding on… not to things we need to let go, but to things we’ll regret losing if we don’t hang on for all we are worth.
The other day, I went outside to get the mail and noticed a praying mantis trying to cling to the side of the house near the front door. It didn’t seem like a good place for him to be, so I broke off a stem of lavender and held it for him to climb onto.
When he did, I moved him over to the lavender plant. Within seconds, he’d latched onto two stems with those powerful legs and wasn’t letting go.
He was still clinging to those stems hours later when Captain Cavedweller came home from work. CC was going to move him to a spot in the backyard, but the praying mantis clung to that lavender plant with every bit of strength he possessed, refusing to be moved.
It made me think about the times I need to be more like that praying mantis… to be so tenacious about hanging on to a something, I can’t be moved by the variety of external forces that would try to force me to let go.
For any of you who are struggling today to hang on, I’m cheering you on. Be tenacious, be determined, be full of faith – and cherish the grace that comes in holding on when it would be so easy to just let go.
