Control or Trust?

This morning, I was reading about yet another family who lost a child too soon.  This time, a family lost their daughter in the recent flooding in Texas.  A couple of weeks ago, an old friend from high school lost a daughter to cancer.  Every time I turn around, someone is losing a child.  Losing a loved one who is older is difficult, but losing a child is devastating.  Other friends of ours have lost children over the past decade.  I look at my own children and anxiety can overwhelm me.  We have no control over what happens in life.  People who try to gain full control of their lives are becoming exhausted in a futile attempt to control the uncontrollable.  We can live with wisdom, make every attempt to use good judgment and live safely, but ultimately...control is entirely elusive.

This morning, I sent my daughter on a day-trip for teens in the local area where we live.  She was excited as she packed her backpack with a lunch, sunscreen and a few dollars for snacks.  She is going with a group of kids (and responsible adults?) on a trip that is meant to be fun.

What is she never returned?

I followed a high profile case from my hometown that involved a young boy that went missing.  His father claims to have seen him, alive and well the morning of his disappearance.  His mother sent him  on a trip, surely expecting that he would return soon.  He never came home.  How many times per day, in America (and around the world), does this happen?

What would happen if THIS unthinkable thing happened to you?  Maybe your child doesn't disappear in one day, but perhaps cancer comes to claim him/her too early?  What control do you have in these trials?

Control.  Why do we even try to maintain control?  Attempts to control can lead to crippling anxiety. Attempts to control life diminish the quality of the life that we are so preciously given.  Perhaps, control is not the answer.  The answer is to TRUST...but trust what.  Do we trust in money, or healthy foods, or safety protocol?  All these things are good and to have them is wisdom.  But, all these things may also fail.  What or WHO do you trust?

I cannot control the outcome of my life.  I cannot control the outcome of my day.  At times, I cannot control the next 2 minutes of my life (with 3 busy children).  Control is elusive, but trusting in God helps me to feel peace when life is out of control.  I can trust that God is always good.  I can trust that His plans for me are to prosper me and not to harm me (Jeremiah 29:11).   I trust that, if my children have trust in Jesus, they too will have peace.  I have to trust God to take care of the details of my life. Without trusting Him to take care of the things that cause me fear, I will only have worry.  This is not the abundant life that God has planned for me.

I cannot control what happens next, but with trust in God, I can have peace in every circumstance.

Luke 12:26-28 (NLT)

Do Not Worry
…26"If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters? 27"Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 28"But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? You men of little faith!…

The Broken Glass

I was standing at the dishwasher, carefully loading each dish into the machine.  Mindlessly, I placed each glass into the upper rack with gentle care.  As I reached around to grab another glass, it slipped through my wet hands and crashed onto the floor.  In a millisecond, the once whole glass was shattered...into a million tiny pieces.  I screamed...My kids came running into the kitchen.  Are you OK, Mom?

I just stared at the mess of water and broken glass on the floor.  I let out a deep sigh.  What is my first thought when I break a glass?  I yell at everyone to "stay away" and "just let me clean it up."  I don't want anyone else to get hurt by my mistakes.  I dropped the glass. I broke it.  I have to clean it up.  It's my responsibility to make it right again.

I run to the closet and grab a broom and dustpan.  I keep yelling to my kids, "DON'T go into the kitchen, until I have it cleaned up!"

I quickly run back to the scene of the crime...I look again and there's glass everywhere.  It's amazing how when a glass shatters, the shards of glass can travel so quickly, and so far.  As I bent over to sweep up the glass into the dustpan, I heard God speak to my heart.  He said, "Can you put all the pieces of glass back together and make it hold water?"

I stopped in my tracks.  The voice was so clear, yet so gentle...asking me a question to which it (God) already knew the answer.  I answered, "No.  I can't."

God spoke again, "I can...these pieces of glass...they are like your life.  They shatter, but I am able to restore all things.  I am able to put them back together again and make a container that holds water.  Let Me clean up the mess of your life.  Let Me put the pieces back together."

In that moment, I began to fully understand the grace that God has extended to each of us.  Our lives are like a broken glass, irreparably broken and shattered.  The pieces have traveled far and wide, carrying the great potential to hurt others (and ourselves).  We fruitlessly attempt to pick up the pieces and create something that is meaningful, purposeful and good.  We want our lives to mean something...to hold water.

The problem is that we can't put the pieces back together.

Only God can do that...and that's what He means when He says, "My grace is sufficient for you..."

2 Corinthians 12:9 (NASB)

And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.