Let Go

words & music by Doug Howell (30 Oct 1978)

let go
why is it so hard just to let go
let me give you all the good things that I’ve planned
do you believe that I love you?
I know, I know all your dreams
but do you know I’ve got some dreams for you
can you trust me to make them come true
they’re good dreams
no matter how empty they may seem
but you can’t see beyond your loneliness
no, I don’t go back on my promises
don’t you remember
you belong to me

trust me, please
I just want to make you happy
don’t hang on to your love
it revolves around yourself and leads to nowhere
oh, you think you know what makes you happy
but I’m the only one who can keep you satisfied
oh, I’m not trying to hurt you
i love you
oh, I love you
how I long to throw my arms around you
but with your hands so full of self-made dreams
how can I give you anything
don’t you remember
you belong to me

oh, I know
I know all your dreams
but do you know
I’ve got some dreams for you
can you trust me to make them come true
oh, they’re good dreams
no matter how empty they may seem
but you can’t see beyond your loneliness
no, I don’t go back on my promises
don’t you remember
don’t you remember
don’t you remember
you belong to me
you belong to me

℗ © 1986 Dweller by the Light Stream Music, assigned to Creative Measures (ASCAP)

2011 Notes

While I lived in Wichita, Kansas, with the wonderful Schultzes, our Bible Study Fellowship group had a gathering at First Baptist. There were snacks—healthy snacks—at the end of the meeting. I had already gotten my share of healthy snacks, celery and carrot sticks and the like, and an empty cup, and was in the punch line. As I reached the drinks end of the table, someone offered me a cup, already filled with punch.

For a minute I was stymied, sort of in limbo, and didn’t know what to do. I started to reach out one hand, then the other, but of course, that didn’t work because my hands were already full. You’ll be glad to hear that I did, eventually, figure out that the most intelligent thing for me to do was to put my empty cup down and take the full one offered. Mistake! For as soon as I set down the empty cup, I heard a word from the Lord. Just one word, slicing across my mind: “See.” That’s it. Just “See.” And in that one word, the Lord gave me a little object lesson for a principle He’d been trying to teach me for months. Probably longer.

See. There you are with your empty cup. Nothing in it but emptiness, loneliness, hopelessness, despair. But, boy, it’s all you’ve got, so you’re hanging on so tight! And I have another cup for you, full of my blessings, my love, my peace, my guidance. And there’s only one thing you need to do. Just let go. Just reach out and take it. “With your hands so full of self-made dreams, how can I give you anything?”

So there you have it, my faithful listener, my friend. We’ve come to the end of another album full of music and lyrics and notes. The hardest one of the lot, it was. The hardest to sing, the hardest to write about, the hardest to learn, the hardest to earn. But there it is. No up-tempo praise songs. But hopefully enough truth to set us both free to be who we were always meant to be, and enough praise to keep us looking up and out, and keep us going until the next song comes along.