I Let Go of My Accumulations [1951]

I Let Go of My Accumulations [1951]

"My ego is like a fortress.

I have built its walls stone by stone.

To hold out the invasion of the love of God.

But I have strayed here long enough. There is light

Over the barriers. Oh my God—

The darkness of my house forgive

And overtake my soul.

I relax the barriers.

I abandon all that I think I am,

All that I hope to be,

All that I believe I possess.

I let go of the past,

I withdraw my grasping hand form the future,

And in the great silence of this moment,

I alertly rest my soul.

As the sea gull lays in the wind current,

So I lay myself into the spirit of God.

My dearest human relationships,

My most precious dreams,

I surrender to His care.

All that I have called my own

I give back. All my favorite things

Which I would withhold in my storehouse

From his fearful tyranny,

I let go.

I give myself 

Unto thee, O my God. Amen."

By Dr. Howard Thurman

Author of Jesus and the Disinherited

[Source]

“Conversations with God: Two Centuries of Prayers by African Americans”

Edited by James Melvin Washington