“True love is like quick-silver,” said Ann Landers, “if you hold it in the palm of your hand, it will remain. If you try to grasp it, it will slip through your fingers.” Perhaps this is what Jesus meant when he said, “Whoever will save his life will lose it: and whoever will lose his life for my sake will find it.”

Some parents never let go of their children even when they are adults. Out of their own insecurity they cling to their offspring and smother them. In so doing they drive them away and the thing they need the most—love—they lose. As the saying goes, “If you love someone, let them go; if they come back to you, then they are truly yours. If they don’t, they never were.”

In other words, when we cling to life to live for ourselves or cling to someone else for our own sake out of our own need, we lose what we need the most—love. This is because we have mistaken need for love. Only as we let go of clinging are we free to love and live life to the full.

When we do this and truly love, we give love without strings attached. In so doing we receive more love to give.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please heal the deepest wounding of my heart so I am set free to truly love others and you without strings attached, and be a clear channel through whom your love for others will flow. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Jesus in Matthew (16:25).