Phffft!

Armodoxy for Today: Phfffft

A 1960s movie, with Jack Lemmon and Judy Holiday had the title “Phffft” which had everyone turning the pages of their dictionaries, looking for a meaning in that pre-Google age. Phffft is an onomatopoeic interjection representing a sudden cessation, disappearance, or an ending to something. It’s meant to simulate the sound of something disappearing in a puff of smoke. Phffft: It’s gone!

Letting go, for many people, is perhaps one of the most difficult things to do. Letting go means an end has come to a relationship and continuing life when that relationship is no longer an option. We are emotional creatures and continuity, as the word relationship implies, gives us stability. Letting go threatens that stability and therefore is often mixed with painful feelings.

Interestingly enough, we end our prayers with a statement that proclaims we have let go. The word, “Amen” is our resignation to the fact that we have turned over our cares to God. Amen is an affirmation of our trust, our hope and our faith in God. We end each prayer saying, “So be it” or “Let it be so.” Amen. It is the ultimate statement of letting go. We relinquish control.

Letting go is essential, particularly in this age of information. Being bombarded day in and day out with news, it is easy to become distraught and lose hope. In fact, most of the news items we are given fill us with information and not much more. And so, it becomes exceedingly important, for us to admit that certain events and issues are beyond our immediate control. Turning to Armodoxy – you find that relinquishing access of those things you cannot control allows you to sort out your life and be more productive and spiritually alive. We end our prayers with the word “Amen” as an outword profession that we have turned over matters to God. Let it be. I have turned it over to God. Phffft! There go my worries. It’s not mine.

Protestant theologian Reinhold Niebuhr authored a short prayer that is often used in 12 step programs.  It allows us to place issues and events in context. It turns over to God what we cannot do and confesses “Amen” or “let it be.”

Therefore, join me in prayer: God, grant me the serenity to accept the thing I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Amen.