“Hold your plans loosely”, a beloved mentor once taught me. Leaning in eagerly at Naomi’s kitchen table on Saturday mornings, I would come like a thirsty young mother, trying to drink in every drop of wisdom and much needed encouragement that she offered.

Naomi turned her right hand over and held it open, facing up. She asked me to do the same. She said to imagine that resting in the palm of my hand were my plans, dreams, and wishes.

“Now”, she said demonstrating, “bring your fingers together so that they are just baaaarely touching”, Naomi smiled and continued, “and turn your hand over.” We both turned our hands over and now our barely touching fingers were pointing downward.

“This”, she said, “is a tappable grip”.

She explained that with this overturned, barely-holding-on grip, if our Heavenly Father tapped ever-so-slightly on the back of our hand, our loosely clasped fingers could immediately let go of whatever plans we held. A tappable grip.

In the midst of unsettling current events, meetings being postponed, and traditions that I hold dear being canceled right and left, I am reminded today of one of the sweetest and most precious lessons from Naomi’s table.
I want to live less attached to plans and outcomes while I grip more tightly to Jesus.
By grace, I want to hold my plans with a tappable grip.

I would invite you to lean in with me to the wisdom gleaned at Naomi’s table. Go ahead. Turn your hand upward with me and imaginatively place there in your hand, the plans and hopes of your heart. And now, ever-so-gently close your fingertips together and turn your hand over with me.

Let’s hold loosely our wishes and wants before the Lord, ready and willing to yield to His tapping. And let’s be confident that if He asks us to let go of something, He who taps is trustworthy.