The preacher spoke of the beauty of the grace of forgetting and of the fine art of letting go, at the right time, of some of the things we grasp, or that fall to our fortune in life. We have, in the cities, the trash cans, in the offices the wastebaskets, and everywhere there is a dump; but mentally and spiritually how much useless and very harmful matter we shove back on the shelves and handle over and over. "Whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report-things of virtue and praise-may be stored up for future planting and cultivation, but let us dump the useless waste."
How many people we know would be so much healthier in spirit if they would make better use of a spiritual wastebasket! It just means to dump the trash that hinders the victory that you should have; it may be a bad habit, a grievance, prejudices, bad company, heavy heart burdens-anything that discourages, saddens or brings darkness instead of light.
"Clouds shut out sunshine. Fear weakens. Gloom depresses. Anxiety warps the judgment. Let the art of letting go come to our rescue. The speech of the apostle falls upon us: 'Brethren! This one thing I do, forgetting those which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.' (Phil. 3:13-14.) Which shall we let go? The past or the future? The encouragements or the discouragements? We cannot hold both the good and the bad.
"Unnecessary and unpleasant recollections are good things to let go. "Do you have hours when the only possible thing, apparently, the only right thing to consider, is something that gnaws the heart and frets the mind? Ah, the things that ought not to have been! How many hours we have toiled the past year! What burdens we have borne! What griefs have fallen upon us! What losses we have sustained! Shall we, then, keep open the sepulcher of the old year, weep above it, and ask our friends to keep flowers of sympathy upon it?
Heart wounds are good things to let go. They are inevitable.... If we remember all slights, if we number all wounds, if we stop to think of every tingle of inward pain, we shall be most miserable,... for treasuring these in memory, we shall be letting go the sweets, the joys, the chances of friendship and service that make life a joy to ourselves and to others.
Hearts growing weary
With heavier woe
Now, droop mid the darkness-
Go comfort them, go.
Let us be especially careful to have fair judgment, mercy and love to keep the way clear between us and the discouraged souls around us. Those who are on their feet and climbing should reach out a hand to the fallen.