What Was Never Entrusted

On Obedience, Mercy, and the Freedom of Letting Go

“Do not abandon what has been entrusted to you, and do not seize what has not.”

— Saying in the spirit of the Desert Fathers

Disciple:

Father, when I loosen my grip, I fear things will fall into disorder.

Arsenius:

What God commands does not depend on your grip.

Disciple:

But there are people and works that seem to rest on me.

Arsenius:

If they were given to you in obedience or in mercy, you must not abandon them.

What is commanded is not released.

Disciple:

And what is not commanded?

Arsenius:

What you took up to feel useful.

What you continue to hold because others expect it.

What remains only by your anxiety.

Disciple:

How can I tell the difference?

Arsenius:

What God gives weighs little and purifies the heart.

What you seize grows heavy and clouds the mind.

Disciple:

If I lay these things down, will harm come?

Arsenius:

What lives by God stands when you step away.

What collapses reveals it was held by fear.

Disciple:

I am ashamed to stop.

Arsenius:

Shame guards pride more often than truth.

Obedience needs no audience.

Disciple:

What then remains for me?

Arsenius:

Remain where you were placed.

Carry what mercy has bound to you.

Lay down what God never asked for.

Disciple:

Pray for me, Father.

Arsenius:

I pray you learn this freedom:

Nothing God has entrusted to you will be lost when you release what was never entrusted.