Open Hands

Today's Wild and Free post is a treat from a dear, new friend of mine, member of my collective, the amazing photographer - Caroline Ro. These are all her beautiful images in this post. - Jess 

The idea of open hands has been a theme for the past few weeks of my life. I’ve seen them in YouTube videos, in blogposts, in speakers’ messages and in photos. It wasn’t until this past week that those hands became clear and turned into truth.

Mary Marantz, one half of the husband and wife wedding photography team, Justin & Mary, was a speaker at a photography and creative conference I attended last week. I’ve heard Mary speak before and her words have always resonated with me but what she spoke about last week seemed to ring even more true.

“Stop clenching your fists so tightly leaving no room for God to move.”

It’s so easy to think we’re living in faith with God, that we’re trusting and following in His will when things are going well, when a plan is in place, when the next sixteen weeks are planned out down to the tivoed shows and coffee dates with friends.

But how much of our lives do we actually hand over to God and let His will be done? How often do we find ourselves abandoning our plans-our rigid, outlined, down to the detail-plans, for what we believe God has called us to?

Faith cannot exist within closed fists.

I have held so tightly onto everything within my business that I haven’t letting God in. I assumed that if I was operating out of a place of having faith in other areas of my life that it would automatically translate over to my business.

Not the case.

So my business became rigid, uptight and I became worried and anxious on a daily basis when things didn’t go how I had mapped them out to, how I had planned them to fall into place.

So then we sit. Numb and like a broken record with closed, clenched fists asking and begging for God to hand us more, to give us new and exciting opportunities, blessings we couldn’t imagine and things we know only He could do.

It’s hard to ask for a gift from the Lord when your hands aren’t open to receive it.

The truth is that our faith was not built to happen in controlled circumstances.

If every detail is planned out, the list of what is and isn’t an option is set in stone and the way you love others (and who you pour into) is anything but flexible…God can’t hand you opportunities beyond what you could have asked or imagined.

So relax your grip.

Create room for God to move.

Give way for those moments to be wild and free.

Because unless I’m way off, I’m pretty sure freedom, faith and trust don’t exist within confined borders. Open your hands for God to move in your life-He wants to place something great into them.