Most of the men who would become Jesus’ disciples were simple fishermen. When he invited them to leave their fishing nets and follow him, they left livelihood, families, communities—all that they knew.

Can you imagine? Put yourself in the sandals of those men. You are living your life and are suddenly asked to leave it all for that which seems unknown.

Eventually the disciples would go down in history as key characters in a book that I, along with countless others, study and look to daily for practical answers to life’s many questions—the Holy Bible. But in that moment when Jesus asked them to drop their nets and follow him, what was it that moved them to take such a big step? If Jesus approached right here, right now, would you drop it all and follow him? Think about it. 

While Jesus no longer physically beckons on the sea shore, the ever-active Christ-spirit calls to each heart—right now—inviting you and me to feast on what’s possible when we are willing to leave all for God.

I heard a call like this one night. After days of praying for divine guidance, I woke with a clear message that it was time to leave my picturesque life in Los Angeles. This was not what I was expecting, but within thirty days, I vacated my apartment and gave away all of my furniture, my car, and most of my possessions. What had landed on my heart was a yearning to trust my every need exclusively to divine supply, like the children of Israel who were fed by daily manna as they wandered through the wilderness.

My daily prayer and purpose during these last four nomadic years has been to ask: “Father, show me where I can serve. What would You have me to know?” Not a day goes by that I am not awe-inspired and blessed as I witness how God’s will is so much more vast and profound than even the purest desires of my own personal attachments.

Speaking of personal attachment, the Discoverer of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, wrote that it should not impel our motives or acts (see Manual of The Mother Church, p. 40). So I had to ask, “What is personal attachment?” According to Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language, personal means “relating to an individual” and “pertaining to the corporal nature”—that is, the material, not the spiritual nature—while attachment means “close adherence or affection; fidelity; regard; any passion or affection that binds a person.”

Life gives each of us opportunities to drop personal attachment.

Wow! Material affection that “binds”! This says to me that personal attachment is anything that would turn us toward self instead of toward God, Spirit. It is any sense of ourselves—of “I,” “me,” or “my”—that would keep us from recognizing that we are one with God, or “I AM,” as God identifies Himself in the Bible (Exodus 3:14). 

At times, I’ve experienced a heartfelt pang that told me, “This is holding my affection, and it’s definitely not spiritually based.” “This” might refer to the binding net of any number of materially based things: addictions, habits, labels, insecurities, agendas, etc. 

Leaving L.A. wasn’t the first time I had been called to let go of life as I had it. When I was sixteen, divine unfoldment led to a move to New York City as my career took off (see “Who me? A model?” The Christian Science Journal, August 2004). After seven wonderfully full years there, I realized I had an extreme focus on “go, go, go; accomplish, accomplish, accomplish.” I knew the only way to see through that attachment was to pray and listen for God’s direction. Thinking that God might remove something from my very full plate, I found that He actually took the whole plate and tossed it to the wind by presenting an opportunity to move to London! Once I stopped laughing at the invitation to move, I realized that it was, in fact, an answer to my prayers. My work in London had impact I would never have imagined—which included showering love and affection on four precious children. As we drop our nets of personal attachment, and tune in to the Christ call that speaks to our innate spiritual sense, blessings abound not only in our lives but also in the lives of others! 

Two years into my nomadic journey, I was praying about a financial situation when a friend reached out, asking how quickly I could be in Dubai. Not only did this opportunity abundantly meet my need, but it also helped my friend, who needed a right-hand man on a global, multimillion-dollar venture gone wrong.

Another unfolding came as I felt I was being led to Southeast Asia. Amidst very clear signs indicating that this was my next stop, I heard that familiar, intuitive divine message say, “Pause.” I listened. I didn’t want to become attached to my plans simply because they had felt right moments ago. I knew I had to be a minuteman—ever at the ready to respond to divine guidance. So I prayerfully waited. Five days later I got a phone call asking me to work with teens and young adults at a summer camp in the Rocky Mountains. I knew the moment the call came in that this had been the cause for the pause, and I flew to Colorado a few days later.

As we release our binding attachments to personal sense, we bear witness to God.

On the first day of staff training, as this “city girl” hung off the side of a mountain on a rappel line, learning emergency rescue procedures, I knew that God had brought me here and therefore would enable me to perform the tasks appointed (just as He had in Dubai, L.A., London, and New York)—and I came through the summer’s adventures with flying colors. During the many intimate conversations shared—none of which would have been possible had I been attached to my own agenda and sense of how things should look—I couldn’t help but rejoice, bearing witness to exactly why God had placed me there that summer and not Asia. What’s fun is that very specific preparations I’d been led to do for Southeast Asia exactly met my needs for camp (the limited time frame wouldn’t have allowed for adequate preparation otherwise).

Letting go of personal attachment reaps rich rewards in all of life’s domains: whether overcoming the entanglements of obsessing about the physical body, of feeling identified by career, of being bound by the “fatherless child” label, or of being swept away by romantic relationships that have come and gone. I have endless stories that could fill chapter upon chapter, but it all boils down to the joy of dropping the ensnaring nets of personal sense in exchange for an understanding of our oneness with God, divine Love.

The disciples certainly had enough firsthand stories of the healing effects of this understanding to fill many a book; yet, after Jesus was crucified, they went back to their fishing nets (see John 21:2–13). Going back to our old ways is something many of us can relate to. But no matter what, the Christ meets us wherever we are and invites us to “come and dine.” If you find that you often “go a-fishing” and can’t seem to drop your binding nets, rest assured that the Christ will always be waiting for you with a full feast—all you have to do is accept the invitation!  

Mary Baker Eddy wrote in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: “Christians rejoice in secret beauty and bounty, hidden from the world, but known to God. Self-forgetfulness, purity, and affection are constant prayers....

“A great sacrifice of material things must precede this advanced spiritual understanding. The highest prayer is not one of faith merely; it is demonstration” (pp. 15–16).

Life, God, gives each of us opportunities to joyfully drop personal attachment. Jesus requires every disciple “to set aside even the most cherished beliefs and practices, to leave all for Christ” (Science and Health, p. 141). You may not be prompted to leave your home or career, but I’m guessing there is some belief or practice that leaves you feeling separate from God. I invite you to let it go! The manna still falls day by day, moment by moment, and each of us can choose what we cling to and lean on: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5, 6). As we release our “nets”—our binding attachments to personal sense—we bear witness to God, the infinite I am. Yesterday is history; tomorrow is in God’s hands; right now the Christ is embracing you with love and guiding you!