Can't Let Go.

There are a set of handwritten documents buried somewhere in my roofspace. I know they’re there. I put them there and I wrote them myself.

They are my college notes from my studies when I was an apprentice electrician from 1975 to 1979. Hand written notes. Hand drawn diagrams. Properly coloured and annotated as proper electrical diagrams and text should be. The calculator hadn’t yet been made available to the public when I started my studies. It became available nearer the end of my studies and it cost the equivalent of a week’s wages when I bought one. I had to buy it from one of those easy repayment books. And so, the tech notes sit there. I have carried them through several house moves and several life changes. But I always kept them somewhere safe.

I am approaching retirement age now. And it loathes me to throw the notes out. They represent many, many hours of study. A good few exams – All hand written and drawn. (No computers or internet to cut and paste from in those days). They represent many hours of walking and getting buses through the rain and the sunshine to go to college. But I still can’t bear to part with them.

I suppose I’ll have to someday. They will go to the dump and thrown into the recycling bin for paper. And I think I might get a bit emotional at the losing of them. But isn’t it in our nature to hold on to those things which we hold dear? Even if they aren’t of any use any more?

It is the same with God and His People. He could have let us go at any time. Goodness knows, we have caused Him more anguish than enough. But, like me and my notes, He just couldn’t let His People go. We represent the pinnacle of His creation. We represent the Blood He shed on the Cross. And even though I have not looked at my college notes for decades, I know they’re there. I can still see the colours and the lines in the diagrams. I can still see the tutor’s comments as he marked my work. I can still see the splash of blood where the guy sitting next to me cut himself and some of it spilt across the page I was writing on.

Despite our sinful and wayward ways, God can still see His work in us. He can still see what he desired for us to be right from the start. And thankfully, He will never have to throw us into any recycling bins.

 

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