Control

I have some catching up to do. So I might end up posting a few times today. On the other hand, I have a couple articles due tomorrow. So additional posts might get postponed. At any rate, here is one thought that I tried to work through recently:

It has to do with son#1 and the "valley of the shadow of crap" (that is his phrase, not mine, but I like it; you'd have to go to his myspace page to read his discussion that lead to this phrase) that he has been going through recently and will be in for a while longer. I refered to this situation recently in a previous post. Then he and I had an online exchange. then I spent some time hiking in the gorgeous Gorge (i.e. Columbia River Gorge). While hiking I was talking with God about my issues as well as son#1's issues. Combination of the online exchange with son & the hiking exchange with God, I had to admit that once again I need to let go of control.

I think generally I do okay in the area of releasing control. I'm as comfortable as I can be with not knowing what the next few months of my life will bring me--not to mention next year. I have little or no need to control events in the operation of our home (usually). I have no need or desire to direct events in the church where we worship.

But God gave me a gentle reminder that I was trying to control events in the "valley of the shadow of crap" that son#1 is experiencing. So I let go of that situation (not that I ever had anything to hold onto anyway). And I just lifted my son to the Lord and I lifted his senior pastor to the Lord and I lifted their church board to the Lord and I lifted the congregation to the Lord. (It occurs to me just now that I did NOT lift to the Lord the prime movers creating this "valley of the shadow of crap.")

I'm fairly certain that we all face these times when we need to let go of our attempts to keep control. I doubt that I will ever totally escape that temptation. Some people struggle with it more than others. I have had my struggles with it. And while I continue to struggle daily with other issues and temptations, this is one that fortunately only crops up occasionally. Also fortunately, God only needed to give me a gentle reminder to let go rather than a firm or drastic confrontation.

I certainly do not mean any of the above as a boast about how spiritual I am. The better you know me, the more you know that I am not a spiritual giant. But I think I intend the above for 2 purposes: 1. To give thanks to God for the growth He cultivates in me; and 2. (in case anyone reading this struggles with issues of control) to encourage you that we can trust God to keep control and therefore we can relax and let go.

What do you think?