Giving up control...
Topic: Carnival entries




C. S. Lewis said, "There are two kinds of people:
those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,'
and those to whom God says,
'All right, then, have it your way.'"

"Thy will be done."

When Jesus taught His disciples how to pray, He told them to have that attitude. Today we knock it out as one of our vain repetitions. We don't really think about or mean what we're saying. Would we really be praying that if we were obligated to mean it?

Give up control?

By assuming control, we are actually running out of control....God's control. I have seen it so many times in my own life. When I take the wheel and point it where I want to go, using human wisdom and knowledge, I throw God's compass out the window, disregarding God's wisdom and knowledge.

Ouch!

When my children were preschoolers, they each went through a stage that was very frustrating. It was the "I'll do it myself!" stage. Some of my 4 children went through that stage several times. It seems to take some longer to figure out that they need help, or as they get older, advice and direction. As parents, we get frustrated and anxious for them. We know they would be better off if they would listen to us, but some lessons are learned the hard way.
When children are babies, we expect them to go through that stage.

I was talking with one of my teenagers tonight, remembering times she or her sisters tried to do things themselves and made a huge mess for me. We got to laughing so hard about it, but at the time it happened, it was catastrophic to me! Once my youngest, Maggie, was playing after dinner. She sounded happy, so I continued to visit with my friend who was over for dinner. We were enjoying some nice after dinner talking, when my friend glanced into the kitchen. She looked horrified and amused at the same time. (Just TRY to duplicate a look like that…it’s impossible! It has to be spontaneous.) She just said, “Oh….Christie….look!” I didn’t want to, but my curiousity made me look. Maggie had pulled the honey pot down from the counter and was painting our very fuzzy, long haired poodle with it! She had wanted to try to use that wooden swirly honey dripping stick all evening at dinner and I wouldn’t let her do it by herself. We were horrified….we cleaned the dog and the baby at the same time in different tubs. Then we tackled the kitchen floor.

Another time, a different daughter (I won’t mention names, because after all, she was only 2) had been fiddling with her diaper all day. Being a natural escape artist from things like car seats, high chairs and cribs, she had now begun trying to find her way out of her diaper. So I used wide tape to hold the diaper on, then I put her in a one piece blanket sleeper and put her to bed for a nap. By the time I noticed the terrible, horrible, very bad smell coming down the hall, into the living room, it was WAY too late. Upon entering her room, I about gagged as she had painted very quietly for an extended time…I know this because it was EVERYWHERE! I spent hours cleaning first her, then her crib, toys, walls and carpet!

OK, no more stories. But the point is, that when we are babies, we try to do things for ourselves. Our parents are patient (or at least try!) with us and clean up our messes and we learn from it. But when we are older and can clean the poop from the crib railings or the honey from the dog, we are expected to fix the mess ourselves. A wise parent will insist on this. We let go and say, “All right then, have it your way. But you will be responsible for the consequences.” And we let them deal with it. A parent who bails a child out of every situation they get themselves into, using unwise judgment, only leads to very tall, very spoiled babies who look, on the outside, like adults.

God is the wisest of Fathers. He carries us, makes allowances for us even, when we are young in faith or in age. But if we don’t learn from it and grow, we may look like mature Christians, but we are really just very tall, very spoiled baby Christians. (Like the ones addressed in Hebrews 5:11-14.)

Silly how we think preschoolers are foolish to have to learn a lesson over and over again, when really, we haven't learned certain things very well ourselves. I wonder if God looks upon us as we do our children, shaking of the head, rolling eyes, sighing....or would He more likely respond with tears in His eyes as we willfully bypass His plans and purposes for our lives. The stakes are a little higher nowadays than they when we were young. God's will in almost every situation is to draw people to Himself, using us as His hands and feet. I wonder how many times I have stubbornly chosen my own will, only to have missed an opportunity to show someone Jesus.

Yikes...

Oh, God, please don't give up on me. I can be so stubborn, thinking the control I keep in certain areas of my life is harmless. Please do NOT let me do it my own way. I only want Your way....to know Your blessing, Your favor and Your will.

Thy will be done.