Balloons!  I just can’t help but smile when I see them.  They seem to be a symbol of celebration.

A birthday.
A new baby.
A graduation.
A grand opening.
An anniversary.

It’s always fun to watch balloons go up in the sky as if giving a celebration gift to Jesus.  As a kid, I used to love letting those balloons go and I’ve found that a few years and added aches and pains of age hasn’t taken away the excitement of letting those circles of air head up to the sky.

We’ve used balloons to write messages on to send to heaven.  We released balloons at Y2K to celebrate a new century.  And just a couple of weeks ago, survivors and caregivers released balloons to celebrate life.  I am thankful my parents are two of those who were honored to join the survivor celebration.

How relaxing it is to release those balloons and let the celebration of the joy of life begin!  We need to do that with our everyday worries.  Our worries can sometimes seem as heavy as a cement block and there’s no way we can release those.  But Jesus said, “Don’t be anxious about anything but instead give all your worries to me and I will give you peace beyond anything you can understand.” [paraphrased Philippians 4:6-7]

Wow!  Giving our worries up to the Lord is like sending a balloon up to heaven.  But what is hard to understand is that our worries are more like cement blocks to us that won’t fly.  That’s where trusting Him takes over our understanding.  If we can just let go of that string and let all those worries float to Christ, then our burdens are lifted and our peace restored.

Whether we do it virtually or physically, let’s let go of the worries we are holding by the string today and give them to God.  In exchange, we will find a weight lifted and a peace and joy restored.