As a child, I was fascinated that I could hold soda in a drinking straw simply by putting my finger over the top end of the straw. It was only when I removed my finger that the soda would be released back into the cup. Later, I learned that the “empty” straw was not empty at all. It was full of air. The pressure of the air entering the straw pushed the liquid out of the straw. When I cut off the air supply to the inside of the straw, the soda just stayed put and couldn’t flow back into the cup.
Our lives are kind of like drinking straws: full of many kinds of physical stuff and time commitments. When they become too full of those things, there’s no room for other things, people, and activities to come in. It’s only when we let go of some things that no longer fit with our desired lifestyle that we make room for new things.
Sometimes we are afraid to let go of what’s in our straw because we’re not sure about what’s going to take its place. The good news is that we can choose those new things! And we can be assured that, despite its appearance, our straw will never be empty.