“I’ll never let go, Jack. I’ll never let go.”
-Rose, Titanic
Today marks the 114th anniversary of the unthinkable tragedy when the unsinkable Titanic capsized after colliding with an iceberg in the North Atlantic. And this event has led to countless musings, metaphors, memes, and a blockbuster movie that I can’t watch without melting into a blubbering mess (my wife can attest to that…I’m not allowed to watch Forrest Gump or Titanic because my residual post-sob congestion prevents us from actually getting any sleep).
But sometimes in life, you have to let go. Sometimes, the same sites of life’s greatest joys can also be the sites of the most painful betrayals. And you always clutch the priceless memories close to your heart…no one can ever take those from you. But sometimes we find ourselves holding onto the relics of magical memories when the current reality of the situation has deteriorated into a leech-like lagoon. Parasitism prevails where mutual mirth once reigned, and vitality seeps out of the wounds inflicted by insidiously itinerant infective invaders. But we fruitlessly grasp for vestiges of nostalgia while being held captive, hopelessly hoping that “things will be like they used to be.” And the disappointment itself becomes its own disease.
Hold onto hope. Cling to the Truth. Latch onto love with the fiercest of grips. But when every embrace leaves you nursing new injuries, it’s time to just let go.
2 Corinthians 1:9-10
