Control. This concept looks different for different people. One person’s idea of control is chaos to another person, but the control another person seeks feels like a straitjacket to someone else. Whatever our comfort level with control during the holidays, it seems everyone’s idea of control is pushed to their limits.
Instead of of focusing on company, our children’s holiday events, and the time we spend with those we love, we freak out about the menu, getting to the grocery store, delays in travel or making sure the house is clean enough for the standards of our extended family. Please tell me I’m not alone in this boat, quickly taking on water? When did this become what the holidays are about? A vision of perfection, rather than being present? Every year, my holidays feel a little more out of control, so I asked myself, what do I really have control over?
News flash! I have control over nothing. This was a tough pill for me to swallow when I figured this little chestnut out in my life. The more time I spend with God, the less control I realize I have.
At first this made me angry. Didn’t God see all I was doing to make things better in my little corner of the universe? Didn’t He see how I was making my children’s lives better by keeping them safe, by limiting their choices? Which is essentially a euphemism for control, by the way. God gradually showed me sometimes in a soft way and other times through a spectacular failure in judgement for all those around me to see, that the greater control I seek, the more out of control my life felt.
When I started surrendering those out of control moments, the happier I’ve become. It sounds crazy, but I’ve learned greater control by controlling less and releasing the situation or outcome to God. It seems counter intuitive, but by letting go and letting God, as the popular saying goes, we can feel more secure. Because isn’t that what having control is about, being secure?
I may get an argument on this point, but please hear me out. From my experience, I want to control something so I know the outcome or can influence a situation. This provides me a sense of security. I want assurance the circumstances will all work out to my favor. This is where I deviate from God’s will. It not about my favor, but about the favor God can give me, if I trust Him.
In 2 Timothy 1:12 (NIV) “That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.” My dear friends, the promises in the Bible provide us the security we seek when our lives feel out of control during the hectic holiday season. We can be in more control by controlling less because we can entrust everything to God and He will guard it for us. The creator of the universe is willing to guard what we entrust to Him. I can’t get much more secure than that.
What are you willing to entrust into God’s care?
Share in the comments below if letting go of control has helped you gain more control.