This past summer I traveled to Akron, Ohio, to revisit the birth place of AA. It’s in Akron that Bill W met Dr. Bob, and that together they formed the beginning of the program. A woman of Akron, Henrietta Seiberling, introduced the two, and she remained instrumental in the founding and success of AA. I don’t know if she came up with the saying, but I learned there that Let Go and Let God was a favorite saying of hers, and that she has it on her tombstone.
I’ve been exposed to the saying ever since I first went to AA, but hearing that it is on her tombstone revealed another layer of it to me. Like any person, I suppose, I can get caught up in a fear and dread of death. I guess it can be the ultimate Let Go and Let God situation. Many people fight it, but none win. And it does seem that God made us this way, to die and, to a certain extent, to fear and fight it.
There are so many letting go situations. I have to let go of people, things, places, times, outcomes of situations. At times it’s very hard for me to see when to let go, dealing with my children jumps to the front of my mind in that case. Too much letting go of them is negligent, even at their advanced ages, I would think.
It’s hard for me to know what’s right in work situations. To a certain extent, again, I am called not to let things go. Remembering the phrase of Let God and Let God, I hope I’m better able to back off when I should without being harmful or negligent. I’ve actually put the phrase on my bulletin board where I hope it will remind me.
I’m trying to use it as a big phrase, something that resonates beyond the tiny details of whatever situation I’m dealing with. In general, God will handle or fail to handle our human existence and that of the planet and the universe. Sometimes, the things I wrestle with will matter in five or ten years, but usually not. Also, I cannot cannot control other people. Sometimes I can be a bit of an influence, but that’s it, and it’s mostly by my example that I influence anyway. What I do is more important than what I say.