{Day 5} What is ALLOWING anyway??

We are on Day 5 of the topic ALLOWING and it occurs to me that we haven’t talked specifically about what it means to allow. What is ALLOWING?

Webster says allowing is permitting the presence of an activity without opposing or prohibiting.

Well, gee Beth, that’s enlightening.

Okay, here is a better example. I don’t remember learning to swim. It seems like I always knew how. My mom, unfortunately, did not have the YMCA nearby. She had a river…and lots of people telling her to “stay away from that river or you will drown!”

I do remember watching her take swimming lessons. And I remember trying to help her in a friend’s pool. She can’t get past attempting to float. Her mind is too resistant, too filled with the fear of drowning, to relax in the water. Buoyancy is impossible.

Allowing is floating. On top of the water. Moving with the water. Relaxing. Enjoying. Trusting.

Disallowing is being so stiff that you start to sink. It is not permitting the water to do what it naturally does.

Of course, allowing is so much more than floating. Starting tomorrow, we will start chewing on how allowing looks in different aspect of life, what keeps us from allowing, and how allowing or disallowing affects our lives.

Until tomorrow’s post, let the idea of allowing or disallowing roll around in your head. Sometimes simply creating that awareness in your mind helps you see things differently.

In John 7, Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman at a well. Although Jews refused to have any contact or dealings with Samaritans, Jesus engages her in conversation. Jesus says to the woman, “Everyone who drinks this (well’s) water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water that I give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I give will become in him a spring of water [satisfying his thirst for God] welling up [continually flowing, bubbling within him] to eternal life.”

Please know there is allowing and disallowing, and each of us chooses. The spring doesn’t stop bubbling, the stream doesn’t stop moving. You either allow the benefits of it or you cut it off.

Think about that as you go about your day.

Thanks for reading.

We will talk again tomorrow… there is much more to say about ALLOWING.

BP J

I am participating in Write 31 Days. Click here to read more about it and see the other amazing bloggers.

You can see earlier entries below this blog or in the sidebar under 2015.

Beth Painter is, among many other things, a writer and motivational speaker. You can follow her on Facebook on the “Think Big focus small” page.

Beth is available to speak to your group about how to make your dreams and desires come to life!