"When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be."
— Lao Tzu

A friend this morning told me that she had sat having her morning coffee as she watched the leaves fall from the tree near her deck. She remarked: "As I watched them let go, I wondered what I needed to let go of. What am I holding on to that needs to be released?" It is a great metaphor, a great question. And I love the idea that it was the wisdom of that tree that birthed the big question in her mind.

Of course in telling me her story, the question got passed on as these things often do and so now I, too, have been asking myself this question. "What do I need to let go of?" Outside my office window the enormous oak tree is in a curious state: some leaves very brown, others yellowing, still other are as green as July. Obviously this tree represents a varied state of letting go, much as we often do. There are parts of my life that are going along just fine and I have no need to release a thing. But other parts are yellowing and need to continue to turn brown…..and finally let go.

Letting go is a scary thing. As I watched a leaf fall slowly to the ground just now, I wondered about its fall. Will it be soft? Will it collide with the gravel and get scratched up? Will it fall into the cold water that still stands from an earlier rain? Will it land on the playground equipment and get carried away on the shoe of a child playing beneath the giant tree? Letting go…a scary but necessary thing for growth. I know this lesson from watching this same tree for many years.

And so I ask myself again….and I ask you…what things must be ‘let go’ to make room for the growth that is to come?How might each of us learn from the wisdom of the trees that, each year, release the life that has been in order to embrace what is yet to be?

These are big questions for our very big lives.